Loving the Safari Guide
by C.C. Red
Summary: A few years after moving down to Botswana, Africa, to be with your now fiance, Jackson Oz. The lions, native to the area, begin to act strange by attacking people for seeming no reason. However, Jackson's recently deceased father, Robert Oz, had a very strange theory about why everything is happening. What seemed to be the ramblings of a mad man, are now starting to make sense.
1. Life in Africa

Chapter One

Life in Africa

Getting use to life in Africa has not been easy. The landscape and the animals can leave you breathless, they can also be very deadly. My fiance, Jackson Oz, knows this all to well. He is one of the safari guides, in fact that's how the two of us met. I was on a family vacation to Botswana from New York. I have to say, it was a rather nice change of pace from city life. But Jackson was something else. His confidence mixed with good boy charm and good looks, with his toned and well built body, chiseled jaw, dark brown eyes, shaggy brown hair with a beard to match, made him hard to ignore. To make everything better, he singled me out of the group.

When he wasn't out giving tours and I wasn't on family outings, we spent as much time together as we could. My parents thought it was a nice little summer fling. But it ended up to be so much more than that, after I left Jackson and I kept in touch, though letters or the occasional phone call, when he could get cell reception and our relationship kept growing. A year and a half after Jackson and I met I decided to move to Botswana to be with him. Crazy, I know, but what can I say? I was in love and it turned into one of the best decisions of my life.

Once every few weeks, Jackson and his friend Abraham Kenyatta, another safari guide who is a botswana native and whom is a rather large man, with very short, almost buzzed black hair, with a small, well kept beard, and brown eyes. They are normally only gone for a few days but it never goes by quickly, the passing of a few days, feels like a few weeks to me. However, the morning he was due to arrive home. When I heard the car arrive and head out, excited to see Jackson again, I quickly notice that something isn't right. Jackson is covered in mud, blood, and scratches. His clothes are completely destroyed. As I look over to the jeep Jackson had arrived in I notice that several men are helping to bring Abraham into the medical tent.

As I step out of our tent I see Jackson get back into the jeep with the other men and they head out again. Soon after I head over to help Jackson's mother, Dr Elizabeth Oz, the camps doctor. Since I was an emergency room nurse in New York, I take on the responsibility of helping her whenever she needs it. Dr. Oz and I work on Abraham for a few hours, stabilizing him and patching up his wounds, it takes about thirty minutes after we finish patching up Abe, for Jackson and the other's to return. During which time Dr. Oz, explains to me what Jackson had told her, while was very little.

As the group returns Abe's younger cousin Daniel, comes in.

"Jackson and the other's are back."

As we hear this Dr Oz and I both jump up to head outside, leaving Abe, with one on of the other nurses there. As we make our way across the boardwalk to Jackson and the other's, Jackson turns and sees the two of us walking toward him. When he does he starts running towards his mother and I. Once he reaches us he hugs me tightly, almost knocking me over, before turning and hugging his mother. As he and his mother step apart Jackson gives her worried expression.

"How is he?"

"Abe's gonna be fine. No internal injuries, no bite marks, Several lacerations, just some cuts and bruises."

"Can I see him?"

"In a couple hours, We gave him a sedative."

As we start to walk Jackson places his arm around me, and Jackson asks what's on everyone's minds.

"How is it possible?"

His mother turns to us.

"How is what possible?"

"Somehow, those lions dragged him up into a tree."

I look over a Jackson, gripping the hand he has on my shoulder.

"Well, it's hardly inconceivable, they do that with their young, by taking the back of their necks."

Dr. Oz turns to walk again and continues my thought.

"Sure, Abe is considerably larger than a lion's cub."

Jackson shakes his head.

"But it's as though they purposely went out of their way to not mortally wound him, not to kill him."

I look over at Jackson.

"Then he was incredibly lucky."

Just then his mother stops in her tracks.

"So did you find the others?"

Jackson shakes his head and sighs.

"Yeah, twenty-two dead by the river delta."

"Oh, No."

"Well, if the bodies are gonna start arriving, we need to start preparing loved ones."

"Are you okay Jackson?"

"I'm fine. Really, guys, I'm fine."

I nod before Jackson and I share a quick kiss before his mother and I start to look over the bodies so that we can informed the loved ones, while Jackson and the other men begin unloading their bodies.. After a little while, Jackson and his mother head into the medical tent, to see Abe, while I stay with the loved ones of those who had passed. Later that afternoon when I get to our tent to see Jackson, who is cleaning up and changing into new clothes.

"Are you really okay."

He stands in front of me shirtless and smiles, turning around.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

I lean my head against the door frame as he puts his shirt on and walks over to me, placing his hands on my waist.

"Really, Kat, I'm fine. Trust me."

I nod slightly before placing my forehead, against his. Just then one of the other camp nurses comes up.

"Jackson. Katherine, Dr. Oz needs to see the two of you as soon as possible. She's in the kitchen."

The two of his break apart and head into the camps kitchen area, where she is waiting for us. When we get there she is leaned against a small table and has her arms crossed. We can tell from her expression something is weighing heavily on her.

"Fourteen years out here, I've seen five bodies mauled by lions. Today, nearly two dozen."

Jackson shakes his head, as I take a deep breath.

"It's tragic."

"Yes, it is."

Dr. Oz Continues

"But that's not what concerns me. Lions kill for two reasons, but these people, they didn't pose a threat and they weren't killed for food. Something else. When lions kill, they go for the throat. It's quick, it's efficient. But these bodies, everyone of them has the femoral arteries slashed."

I nod.

"I noticed that too, but I didn't think anything of it."

Jackson looks behind him at me, then back to his mother.  
"With one kill and one lion, you wouldn't. But with multiple kills and multiple lions it's a very low chance of all of them changing the way they kill."

Dr. Oz nods and continues.

"These people, they died slow, painful deaths."

Jackson looks at her confused.

"How would they all change the way they kill?"

"They wouldn't and yet, they did."

Dr. Oz goes silent for a few moments before looking at Jackson.

"You've always had a lot in common with your father, Jackson. Even when you were a child, you were brilliant like him and curious and determined. We're all a product of nature and nurture, of our genes and our experiences, and I've already lost one of the men I love to this. I know it's irrational, but now I'm afraid I may lose the other."

As she says this, she writes something down and hands the paper to Jackson.

"Tokyo? What's in Tokyo?"

"The flash drives that you have, they were sent to us by Harvard. They were among the things your father left behind when they asked him to resign. At some point, your father found his way to Japan. Whatever is left of his research, this is where you'll find it."

Jackson looks between the two of us.

"If something's really wrong with the lions, I'm not just leaving you two here. Once it's safe, then I'll go."

His mother shakes her head.

"I don't think there's time for that. Look, I'm not saying that I think your father was right. In fact, I pray to God he wasn't. But if he is, this isn't gonna stop with just the lions."

"Okay."

Jackson nods and heads back to our tent, while I stay with his mother.

"That boy is just like his father."

"Is that a good thing? From what I've heard it's not."

"Oh, in Jackson's case it is. I see the best of his father in him. Anyway, you should go and make sure he gets ready to go."

I nod and smile softly, giving her a quick hug, before heading back to the tent Jackson and I share. When I get there he is slowly packing up a few duffel bags.

"Need some help?"

He looks over his shoulder at me and chuckles softly.

"Uh.. no, thanks."

I nod and smile.

"Do you really think I'm staying here."

He stops and turns towards me.

"What?"

"Do you really think I'm staying here, without you."

He looks at me with a rather confused look.

"Uh.. I guess I do."

I shake my head and walk over to him.

"That's where you're wrong Mr. Oz. I'm going with you."

He chuckles softly and shakes his head.

"I don't suspect there will be any talking you out of it, is there?"

I shake my head and wrap my arms around his neck as he places his hands on my waist.  
"No there isn't."

He smiles and nods.

"Alright, then I guess we're going to Tokyo."

I smile and kiss him softly, pulling him close to me. We continue kissing, as our kisses become more passionate.

The next morning when we wake after a very passionate night together that we normally share once Jackson returns from his safari trips. Once he is awake, he looks over at me.  
"Good morning, beautiful."

I smile up at him.

"Good morning."

When Jackson looks around the room at the bags he had started to pack, he chuckles.

"I guess we need to finish packing."

I nod and chuckle as well.

"Probably."

The two of us slowly get up and start to get things around to leave as quickly as we can.

Once we have finished getting our things together, Jackson and I begin packing up the jeep we are going to take to the airport. Soon after we start, Abraham heads over to us with a few bags as well.

"Rafiki."

"Hey, should you be out here?"

"No. not at all. But I spoke to your mother and she told me about Japan."

Jackson shakes his head and raises his hands in protest.

"Abe, No."

"If you go, I go with you."

"I don't think so."

"I appreciate you have known me for a dozen years now. Do you know me to be a man that is easily dissuaded?"

I chuckle and nod.

"He does have a point Jackson."

"Besides I find Japanese women very sexy."

The three of us start laugh as Jackson shakes his head.

"Yeah, I'm sure they're gonna find you sexy too. In a beaten-up kind of way."

"Yes, I am a very rugged man."

The three of us continue laughing as we finish packing up the jeep and head to the airport.


	2. Meeting a Future In Law

Chapter 2

Meeting a Future In Law

After almost 24 hours of travelling and trying to find our way around the city of Tokyo, Abe, Jackson, and I finally make it to, what we think is, the location of Dr. Robert Oz's flash drives. When we get out of the small cab we have been jammed into, Abe stretches and looks over at Jackson, who is helping me get the luggage out of the trunk.

"Business or pleasure?"

Jackson and I both look at Abe, confused.

"What?"

Abe chuckles.

"Seventeen hours in airplane seats not suited for children. Two hours trying to hail a cab. Another hour searching through city streets with teens dressed like circus clowns. And did I mention, I haven't been off the African Continent in over a decade? So I am asking, which do we conquer first? Business or pleasure?"

Jackson shakes his head.

"Let's find the address, then you can partake in whatever it is you feel like partaking in ."

I shake my head and rub my eyes, exhausted. As I do Jackson places his hand on the small of my back.

"Are you okay babe?"

I nod and look over at Jackson.

"Yeah, I'm just really tired."

Abe chuckles loudly.

"Travelling in close quarters will do that to you."

Jackson chuckles and nods.

"He's right. But, once we find this address and get the flash drives we will head straight for a hotel, okay?"

I nod and take a deep breath, trying not to let my tiredness over take me.

"Okay."

As we get to the street address Jackson's mother had given us. When we approach the door Jackson knocks, a few moments later a Japanese woman around Elizabeth's age answers the door. When she does Jackson is the first to address her.

"Hello, we are looking for the former residence of Dr. Robert Oz."

The woman looks at Jackson, as if she's seen a ghost.

"Jackson? Jackson Oz?"

Abe and I look at Jackson and then over at the woman. Jackson looks just as confused as we are.

"Yes? Have we met?"

The woman laughs softly

"No, no. I married your father shortly before he was asked to leave Harvard . Please, please come in."

Jackson slowly enters the residence. as he takes my hand, and Abe walks in behind me. As the woman starts to explain how she knew Jackson.

"I'm Minako, I married your father before he left Harvard. I recognize you from a handful of photos your father kept."

Jackson nods and smiles as we enter the small living room.

"I apologize, Minako. I had no idea that my father had got remarried."

She turns towards us and gestures toward the couch.

"Please, sit."

The four of us sit on the couch and the chairs, as she continues.

"We met at Harvard six years ago. I was writing my thesis on trophices interaction and plankton ecology, and I became fascinated with Robert's work on animal evolution. After he was fired from the university, he sunk into a deep depression. I convinced him to continue his work and offered to use my family's money to sustain us. He was, at that time, quite penniless."

Jackson, at this point, is leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"So you were with him during his uh..."

"During his breakdown? Yes. Love is difficult when you stick with someone during the hard times. But, of course, that is when they need you the most."

Jackson nods as he sits up and places his hand on my knee, smiling lovingly as he looks into my eyes.

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

I blush softly as he says this and smile, lovingly, back at him. Minako waits for a few minutes, letting us enjoy the romantic moment, before speaking to Jackson.

"If you have come now, two years after your father's death, it must be because you need something."

Jackson turns back to Minoke and nods, a worried and somber expression crossing his face.

"A pride of male lions in Africa, their behavior was, uh, troubling. I believe that my father may have additional research that can shed some further light on the lions', um changing behavior."

Minako nods and looks at the three of us, as if she knows exactly what Jackson was asking about.

"So it has begun. The awakening of the animals' cognitive acuity. I would love to give you the rest of your father's works but it is not here. It remains where he conducted his final experiments."

I look at Minako a little confused.

"Where is that?"

"Robert became paranoid. He began hiding his findings. Coding everything, even from me. I finally convinced him that somebody other than himself needed to be in on his genius. But enough about this for one night, I can take you there tomorrow. I'm sure you all must be tired."

Minako stands and smiles at us, as Jackson nods and stands as well.

"Yes, we were actually going to head to a nearby hotel."

Minako shakes her head.

"No, no, you're family. You can stay here if you like."

Jackson looks over at Abe and I.

"What do you guys think?"

Abe is the first to answer.

"Where ever works for me, a bed is a bed, Rafiki."

I shrug.

"If you think it's a good idea. I'm with Abe."

The three of us look over at Minako as she smiles.

"Perfect, I'll show you to your rooms."

Surprisingly Minako has a rather large apartment, three bedrooms and an office. I don't even wanna know how much one of these costs. Jackson and I are quick to get changed and get to bed, being exhausted from the days travel.


	3. The Tropical Island

Chapter Three

The Tropical Island

The next morning we awake bright and early, not by our choice, but a combination of jet lag and anticipation. What did Minako mean by she'll take us to where Robert's research was kept? Did Robert really become so paranoid that he felt he couldn't even keep his research in his own home? All this makes me worry for Jackson and pray we never have to go through something like Minako and Robert did. I love Jackson with all of my heart but I don't know how I would even begin to support him during something like that.

A few minutes later, when I finally roll over to see if Jackson has gotten up yet, I am greeted with his still sleeping face. He is so handsome, I reach over and gently brush some of his shaggy hair out of his face. He is so tired and so deep in sleep he doesn't even move. I take a few moments admiring the handsome face of the man I love, before getting up and starting to get dressed.

After I look through my luggage and find the clothes I'm going to wear, my toothbrush, hair brush, and a handful of other things I need to get ready for our day. As I begin to undress and get changed I hear Jackson begin to wake up, I can hear his joints popping as he stretches, as he does every morning.

"Someday you are going to fall apart."

I joke as I get dressed, while Jackson lets out an exhausted sigh, before sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Hopefully not before we have a few kids. I've gotta able to run around the camp after those little cubs."

I laugh softly,

"You say that like we are going to be raising cheetah cubs."

"No, not cheetahs. Lions."

The two of us laugh as Jackson stands and I finish getting dressed. As I begin to put my hair up Jackson walks up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and placing his chin on my shoulder, as I place my hand on the side of his head and the other on his arm. I smile softly at him in the mirror on the dresser in front of us.

"You'll be a prefect mother to our little cubs."

I laugh softly and shake my head, as Jackson gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. Before he breaks away from me and begins to look through his bag to get his things, Abe knocks on the door opening it slowly.

"Rafiki, Uzuri, are you both decent, or should I come back later?"

"We are both decent Abe, come on in."

Abe opens the door and steps into the room as Jackson calls out to him. Uzuri, meaning beauty, has been Abe's nickname for me since we met.

"Just wanted to see if the two of you were ready to go. Minako said we could leave our bags here while we are out today."

I nod,

"I don't know about him, but I'm almost ready to go."

"We'll be out and ready in a few minutes Abe."

Abe nods and closes the door as he leaves. A few minutes later we walk into the living room of Minako's apartment, she and Abe are already there waiting for us. Minako looks up to us from the couch.

"Are you two ready?"

Jackson walks across the room to the door, ahead of me.

"Yeah, whenever you guys are."

The four of us leave the apartment and begin to journey to Robert's shed, as Minako called it. For some reason we find ourselves on a plane. Once we are in the air Minako begins to explain.

"As I said last night, your father became paranoid. He began hiding his findings, coding everything, even from me. I finally convinced him that somebody other than himself needed to be in on his genius."

As Minako explains she hands us small monitors, with a small green light on them. Abe gives her an odd look.

"What are these?"

"Rad meters. You need to wear these at all times. They let us know when we've taken in too much radiation."

Jackson looks across the small aisle to her.

"Why should we be worried about radiation exposure?"

"You're father selected an island 30 kilometers outside of Fukushima."

Jackson looks at her surprise, almost as if he didn't hear her correctly.

"Fukushima? As in nuclear reactors, radiation leaks, and deadly fallout?"

Minako nods.

"He called it his 'Ghost of Christmas Future.' Coming to this island worked for your father. The last time we spoke, he was so thrilled. He said he finally understood."

Jackson leans further forward, toward Minako.

"Understood what?"

"I suspect why the animal behavior was changing. I don't know. He did not want to say on the phone. But before I could make the trip out here,.."

Before Minako can finish her thought we hear a thud. Jackson, being closer to a window looks out.

"That a bat. That's flying a little high, isn't it?"

He looks to Abe and then myself, as Abe nods, looking out the window as well.

"And a little too early in the day."

The whole plane begins to shake as the pilot begins speaking on the radio in Japanese. We can only make out one word.

"Mayday. Mayday."

The pilot's cries for help and the sound of bats throwing themselves into the plane, echoed in my ears as the plane crashes into the ocean. Somehow, I manage to get out of the plane and make my way to the shore of the nearby island, which is only a few yards away. The next sounds I hear is Jackson calling out. Being the men they are, Abe and Jackson jumped to the aid of those on board the plane.

"Abe!"

"Over here."

"I can't find the pilot,"

"Keep looking! Minako and Katherine are on the shore with me."

I look over as Abe it carrying Minako, her limp body draped over his shoulder. As he climbs higher onto the bank before he lays her down. Not long after Abe gets onto the shore Jackson is as well, walking over to me as I stand and make my way to Abe and Minako. Jackson shakes his head and lets out a loud sigh.

"The pilot's gone."

When the two of us get closer to Abe and Minako we notice that Abe is giving her CPR. Jackson calls out worried.

"She's not breathing?"

Abe hangs his head and stops. Jackson looks extremely worried and upset.

"Don't stop. What are you doing? What are you doing? Don't stop."

Jackson dives in and tries to resume CPR, as Abe tries to console him.

"Jackson…. Jackson... Jackson!"

Abe eventually has to push Jackson away from Minako. Jackson falling onto his ass as he sits in the sand, with his head hanging. I walk up behind Jackson and get down onto my knees, hugging him from behind. He places one of his hands on my Abe looks around and then back to us. A little while later Abe gets up and starts to walk around, looking over the beach. Covering Minako's body with large leafs.

"The pilot sent out an SOS beacon, on our way down. We can expect a rescue. But who knows in how long?"

Abe walks over to Jackson and I, who have found a place to sit on a washed up tree. Jackson takes a few deep breaths as I look over at Abe.

"How do hundreds of bats fly 5,000 feets higher then they normally do?"

Abe shrugs and looks at me.

"Perhaps the radiation?"

Jackson nods and stands, grabbing one of the two backpacks he saved from the plane.

"How far do you think it is to my father's compound?"

Abe shrugs again, standing as well.

"From the plane maybe three kilometers. We could make it there and back before rescue arrives."

Jackson looks down to me, as I am still sitting.

"Think you can make it?"

I nod.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. What's a walk in the jungle?"

Jackson looks down at the Rad Meter Minako gave him.

"This thing survived the crash. But I don't know what any these numbers mean."

He hands the meter to Abe as I stand.

"Green. Maybe we are safe."

Jackson nods as the three of us head off to find Robert Oz's compound, Abe and Jackson carrying the two packs we have.

After we walk for a little while Jackson speaks up.

"I can't believe she's dead."

I walk up behind him and rub his shoulder.

"Jackson, you two did everything you could for her."

"I know. But I would have liked to have thanked her. For sticking by him. It's a hell of lot more than my mother and I did."

Abe sighs softly, as Jackson stops, leaning against a tree.

"Well, from everything you've told us, that was the best thing that could have happened to all of you."

I nod agreeing with Abe, as Jackson continues.

"But what if we were wrong and he was right? Is it possible that we were looking at the situation all wrong? What we thought was a man on the edge of sanity was actually a man on the verge of an extraordinary evolutionary breakthrough."

I walk up next to him, having been behind him.

"That's what we are going to find out Jackson."

Abe sighs a few feet ahead of us.

"Perception can sometimes stain reality. That is why i don't tell everybody about my past."

We look among each other. We all know too well how perception can shift the reality of a situation. Before too long Abe turns and steps forward.

"We should keep going."

As we walk for a little while longer we come across a very run down shack. Jackson takes a few steps in front of Abe and I .

"This must be the place."

Abe glance down at the meter in his hand as I glance over.

"What's the radiation level?"

"It's up to yellow. We need to get in and get out."

The three of us approach the shack, as we do a horse approaches us. As the horse gets closer we notice that it has no eyes. Abe is the first to comment.

"Dear lord. Who removed its eyes?"

Jackson steps toward the horse, with his hand extended.

"It's okay, it's okay, boy. it's okay. Don't worry, it's okay."

As Jackson begins to pet the horse as another appears from around the same area, approaching us.

I sigh softly, as the second horse as stops in front of me.

"Oh, my god. Jackson? What exactly was your father doing here?"

The two horses continue walking side by side.

When we enter the shack we hear insects trilling as we enter. Once inside Abe tries the light switch, as Jackson explores inside.

"I'll check for a generator."

Jackson and I look around the shack, finding a small bed and workstation as the lights come on.

"Looks like Abe found the generator."

"Oh, I found the horses' eyeballs."

I cringe slightly.

"Lovely."

"I think i know why he came here."

"What do you mean?"

"My father. He came here because of the radiation, because the animals were already changing."

"But wasn't he already experimenting on animals when you guys where in Boston?"

"Yes, on changes and behavior that were naturally occurring, but I think here he realized that radiation accelerated changes in the animal's biological makeup and behavior."

Abe walks up to us, having heard most of what Jackson was saying.

"He would go to such lengths, even to the detriment of his own health?"

"It's exactly what he would do. This entire island was his petri dish. The Ghost of Christmas Future."

As everything begins to turn on we hear a film reel start and a man speaking from a small side room. As we enter we see another work area, almost like an office. When we look at the screen we see an older man dealing with rather upset horses and hear a voice over.

"This question resides in the most primal aspect of the brain in both animals and humans. That they have the capacity and the capability to rule the planet."

Jackson steps toward the desk in the room.

"He looks like he's aged 30 years since I last saw him."

Realizing that this was jackson's father I step next to him and take his hand. He squeezes my hand as he watches the reel. The film focuses on one of the horse's eyes, as Abe speaks from behind us.

"You see that? The defiant pupil."

Jackson nods,

"Just like the lions."

We continue to hear Robert talking on the film reel as Abe and I look through the work while Jackson watches this film. Abe throws files down.

"Everything is in code."

"Jackson, honey, a little help please?"

Jackson looks to us and then back to the film.

"The eyes are the windows to the soul."

Abe scoffs.

"How does that help to decode this stuff?"

"Like you said before, perception stains reality. What if the defiant pupil is a signifier that the way the animals see the world is now changing?"

I look at him rather confused.

"And what? changing the way they interpret what they see?"

"Yes! What used to be a friend is now an enemy. And because of this, their behavior's changing. What is that's what my father had discovered and he thought that the only way to change them back was to remove their eyes?"

"Jackson, he couldn't blind every animal in the world."

"No, I mean of course not, right? That's ridiculous. Only a crazy person would think that.."

Abe and I look to each other confused and worried. After watching the film for a little longer, Abe, Jackson, and I begin to take waht pictures of the work we can, as Abe calls out holding a photo in his hand.

"Jackson, "

"What is it?"

Jackson walks over to see Abe what had found. He smiles as he takes the picture.

"I remember this day, we were in Western Mass. We'd gone to go observe a family of deer."

Abe leans on the table as I walk up behind Jackson looking at the picture.

"See you still have joyful memories of your father."

"Yeah. alongside the guy who thought he could blind all of God's creatures."

Jackson tosses the picture down, as he does I realize something's not right.

"It's quiet. Why is that?"

Abe looks down at the meter.

"The meter has stopped working."

Jackson looks to the two of us, worried.

"That can't be good."

Abe begins to leave the shack, as we hear the sounds of a helicopter.

"Come on."

The three of us begin running back to the beach. As we approach the beach we are met with a man in a nice suit, waving his hand in a circle.

"Lets go!"

He shouts.

As we approach him Abe addresses the man.

"Who are you?"

"There will be time for questions, but first we must get out of here."


	4. The Meeting

Chapter Four

The Meeting

After several hectic hours of traveling back to Tokyo, Abe, Jackson, and I are shown into a conference room. When we step inside there is a young red headed woman pacing beside the table, dressed in boots, jeans, and a leather jacket. I can't help but notice we share a similar style, except I wear a loose over shirt, rather than leather. There is also an middle aged man sitting close to the end of the table, his legs crossed, holding a drink, while looking through a file. The man is dressed similarly to the young woman, except instead of boots he has dress shoes and instead of a leather jacket, he has a blazer.

Once we enter the room Gaspard, the man who rescued us from the island begins to introduce us to the others, with a very heavy French accent.

"Jackson Oz, Abraham Kenyatta, Katherine Smith, Dr. Mitch Morgan, and Jamie Campbell."

The young lady Gaspard introduced as Jamie comes up and shakes our hands. While the man he identified as Mitch just gives us a small wave from his chair.

As we begin to find our seats Gaspard begins, speaking.

"I know you all have many questions, but if you'll please take a seat."

We all sit and wait for what seems to be a very long time. Mitch clears his throat.

"Okay, this is weird."

Jackson nods.

"Yeah, what exactly are we waiting for?"

Gaspard takes a deep breath.

"Monsieur Delavane."

At that moment a man enters the room, in a nice suit, much like Gaspard's, and addresses us.

"Greetings, I apologize for all the cloak and dagger. The five of you are all here because your suspicions over the last few weeks are correct. You are all aware of the lion killings in Botswana and Los Angeles. But there have also been series of dog attacks in Slovenia."

Jackson nods and sighs.

"And in Japan, hundreds of bats swarmed a plane and brought it down into the ocean."

Gaspard nods and motions to a tv that is set up in the room, as Gaspard speaks videos of terrible, horrific attacks play on the screen.

"In Jakarta three sumatran rhinoceros turned over an SUV belonging to a family of Norwegian tourists. The rhinos waited for the family, a father, mother, and two children, to exit the vehicle then trampled them. In Wuppertal, Germany, six brown bears came out of the Kothen Forest, making their way to a playground in mid-afternoon. The massacre that followed left seven children dead and another 14 injured."

Most of us in the room can't even look at the screen anymore, as I look down, feeling a lump in my throat, Jackson reaches over and takes my hand, as Delavane begins to speak again.

"Taken individually, each of these incidents can just be seen as a horrific, tragic event. However, I believe they are evidence of something else."

Jackson straightens up.

"And what is that, exactly?"

"The global pandemic your father believed as about to emerge, it appears... it has arrived."

Mitch looks between Jackson and Delavane, before pointing at Jackson.

"Sorry, his father?"

Delavane nods

"Professor Robert Oz."

"We're all here because you believe that the scientific theories of a notorious crackpot are now coming to pass?"

Abe looks over at Mitch, being seated across from him.

"What yourself scrawny."

Delavane rolls his eyes.

"Mitch Morgan, as Advertised."

"This is all very interesting and definitely disturbing, but none of this proves anything. Certainly not the coming of the animal apocalypse."

"That is why I had Monsieur Alves bring the six of you together."

Jamie looks at Delavane confused.

"Six? I count five."

At this moment a young, very beautiful blonde woman enters the room. As she does Jackson looks as though he has become uneasy, as Gaspard introduces the woman.

"This is Chloe Tousignant. She will also be working with you."

Chloe stands between the two men at the front of the room.

"Hello."

Delavane continues.

"Miss Tousignant will function as my proxy."

Chloe looks over the room, but her eyes seem to be drawn back to Jackson.

"As my eyes and my ears. Every decision that is made will go through her. Miss Tousignant is in charge. Something is most assuredly going on out there. All we want is for you to figure out what it is. Before it's too late."


	5. Leopards

Chapter 5

Leopards

After our meeting we are given a hotel room for the night before we start our mission to save the world. We are set to head out to Beijing tomorrow morning. When we get to the hotel Jackson and I are given our own room, which is attached to Abe's room next door. Since we had taken a nice dip in the ocean and didn't have time to freshen up before our little meeting earlier today, I decide to take a shower. When I get out I can hear the boys talking in the other room. Of course I'm not surprised, in fact I'd be a little worried if the boys didn't take advantage of the rooms being connected.

When I come out of the bathroom I am in a robe, with my pjs underneath, and my hair up in a towel. As I enter the bed area, Abe is sitting at the small table in the room and Jackson is sitting on the bed. I sit next to him and look between the two of them as Jackson wraps an arm around me.

"So, what do you think about all of this?"

"I think I agree with your mother and pray to God your father wasn't right."

Jackson nods and looks over to Abe.

"All I know is I really don't like that Mitch Morgan, he is cocky."

I laugh softly.

"How is that any different then the two of you?"

"She's got a point there Abe."

Abe stands and shakes his head, as he goes to leave the room, closing the adjoining door behind him. Jackson and I laugh together for a moment. As we do, I can't help but think about that French woman, Chloe, and the look she gave Jackson when she saw him.

"So uh…"

I can't find the right way to ask the question, but knowing me as well as he does, Jackson knows what I want to know.

"I saved her from a lion attack. She was on vacation and her tour group got attacked by the pride of male lions that took Abe."

I nod and sigh, as he places his hands on my cheeks.

"Hey, baby, you have nothing to worry about. I am yours and nothing is ever going to change that."

I smile softly while he kisses my forehead.

"Are you sure because dispute what Abe thinks, I think that Mitch Morgan is just my type."

Jackson and I share another laugh, as Jackson lays back onto the bed.

"We should get some sleep, the faster we solve this problem, the faster we can get back home and start our little pack."

I laugh softly as I lay with Jackson.

"Can you imagine it, Kat, a little pride of our own."

I chuckle as I snuggle up with him.

"Yeah, I can."

The next morning we wake up bright and early to head to the airport and head out for Beijing after Jackson takes a shower. Jackson is looking over some of his father's work we managed to take pictures of before we had to leave, while we are waiting in line for coffee.

"Growing up, I never understood my father, and now. Now I understand him even less. You know, when I was 12, he asked me if I wanted to buy his soul."

I look at him confused and a little shocked.  
"Who says that to a 12 year-old and what does that even mean?"

Abe just chuckles.

"How much did he want for it?"

"We never got to prices."

Abe looks over to the IPad Jackson is looking over.

"Maybe we just need a fresh pair of eyes."

"Abes right, maybe another Scientist?"

Jackson looks between the two of us.

"Who? Mitch? I wouldn't ask that guy for directions to the men's room."

Abe smiles.

"I remember my Uncle Tebogo's old African saying, 'once you get off on the wrong foot, you land on an even wronger one."

Jackson chuckles softly.

"You don't have an Uncle Tebogo, Abe."

"If I did, I am sure he would have said that."

Once we get our coffee we head over to the table Jamie and Mitch are at. When we get there Abe sits the drink carrier on the table.

"Coffee?"

Jamie looks up almost excited to see the coffee, although after the past few days I can't exactly blame her.

"Oh, thank you. You read my mind."

Jackson sits across from Mitch and sits a coffee in front of him, rather awkwardly.

"There you go."

"Thank you."

Jackson looks over to me as I tilt my head over toward Mitch. Jackson sighs softly and steps the IPad down, facing Mitch.

"Does any of this make sense to you?"

Mitch looks up and starts to go through the pictures.

"Who wrote this, a 7 year-old on a roller coaster?"

"My Father."

"Right. Well, don't have a clue what's going on in most of these pictures, but this, Felidae, and Carnivora."

I look at mitch a little confused.

"That's big cat taxonomy?"

"Uh yeah. Panthera pardus…. Leopards."

Abe looks between Mitch and I confused, before to Jackson.

"Leopards? You have any idea why leopards would be so important to your father?"

"No."

Jackson shakes his head,

At his moment Chloe comes up to our table.

"Guys, change of plans. We're going to Mississippi."

Jackson looks up to Chloe.

"Mississippi? What happened to Beijing?"

"There's been a prison fire at Biloxi Penitentiary. It appears no one survived. Not guards, not prisoners, no one."

Jamie shakes her head, confused.

"Prison fire, what does that have to do with us?"

"Because at the time of the fire, the prison was under attack. By wolves."


	6. Pack Mentality

Chapter 6

Pack Mentality

You'd think after taking four plane rides in the past three days, it would be less stressful, but I hate flying, always have and always will. I think the only time I looked forward to flying was when I was moving to Botswana. But then again, I got to see Jackson again so that probably helped a little bit. But even then I still didn't like the actual flight. So you can imagine how I felt about a ride from Tokyo to Mississippi.

When we finally touch down, we get right to work, finding a few vehicles for us already waiting in the airport's parking garage. Of course Chloe gives the orders of who goes where with what vehicle.

"So, Jackson, we'll take the Sedan. You guys take the SUV. You shall need the extra room."

Jackson looks a little confused as Chloe throws him the keys.

"Wait, why are we taking two cars?"

"Uh, you, Jamie and I will be going to the prison. A French national was being held there. We are representatives from the French embassy coming to discuss dealing with his remains."

Jamie and I look at each other confused.

"French Embassy? You're DGSE, right?

"French FBI."

"Yeah, why the false credentials?"

Chloe shrugs her shoulders.

"Because from this moment on, we have no agency, no government affiliation."

"So we are on our own?"

Abe shakes his head.

"What about Delavane?"

"Yes, Delavane is funding our operation. But beyond that, we're. How do you say confidentiel? Off the books."

Abe chuckles.

"Should I presume the reason Mitch and Kat needs extra room is because of me? If i wasn't such a nice guy, I might be offended."

Chloe laughs and shakes her head.

"No. You, Mitch, and Katherine will be trapping a wolf."

Mitch shakes his head as if he didn't hear her correctly.

"Wha? Sorry?"

"Yes, I expect studying a wolf will provide answers to what may have caused the pack…"

Mitch straightens up and cuts her off.

"Yeah, no, But i don't know the first thing about trapping a wolf."

Chloe nods,

"Which is why Abe and Katherine will be going with you."

Jackson steps forward.

"Wait, why don't I just go with them?"

Mitch nods and points at Jackson.

"Genius recommendation. I second that."

Chloe shakes her head as she starts to search for words.

"No…"

I step toward Jackson.

"She needs one of us with her at the prison. It was ground zero for the wolf attack."

Jackson sighs as all but he, Abe and I begin to walk to the cars.

"I know, but I don't like the idea of being so far away from you in a different country and with Mitch."

I laugh softly.

"Don't worry I'll be fine. You know sometimes I think you still see me as that scared girl you first met in Africa."

Abe laughs as he puts his hand on Jackson's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Rafiki. I'll keep her safe."

I nod, as Mitch calls out to Abe and I. When he does Abe steps toward the SUV.

"We Will need supplies."

"Yes, there's a hunting supply store down the highway and this should cover the cost of purchase."

Abe holds up some cash Chloe gave him.

"Okay? Let's get going. Kitty Kat come on or I'll leave you."

I shake my head, a little annoyed, and turn to Jackson.

"I'll be fine, I'll see you later."

Jackson nods as he pulls me in for a quick kiss. Once the two of us break apart, I hop into the back of the SUV, as we do Abe comments.

"You know, I like this Chloe, she's alot like you, Kat. You two are what you would call Peppery."

Mitch shakes his head as we drive off.

"Yeah, I was never a big fan of peppery."

Abe laughs and glances over at him.

"Then you are missing out."

The three of us drive a little while before getting to the hunting supply store. When we get there it is a madhouse in the store. As we make our way through the store Abe makes sure to keep me close to him and Mitch.

"I knew that Americans enjoy hunting. I had no idea it was this popular."

I nod.  
"This is crazy."

Mitch walks over to a man who looks as though he is stocking the shelves of sold out items.

"Uh, excuse me. What's going on?"

The man turns to us with a handful of supplies.

"The county announced a wolf call, because of what happened at the prison."

I look at him a little confused.

"What's a Wolf Call?"

Mitch sighs.

"That is when a bunch of men go into the woods to hunt wolves. Armed with beer and high- powered rifles. Because, you know, what goes better together than guns and drinking?"

Abe shakes his head and introjects.

"Do you have any traps or snares? We are looking to catch a wolf."

I nod,

"Catch, not kill."

The man sighs.

"We might have some net guns in the back."

We nod as the employee begins to show us to the back of the store, as we are stopped by three rather hillbilly looking types.

"You wanna catch and not kill? What are you gonna do with a rabid wolf? Take it to dinner and a movie?"

Mitch sighs.

"These wolves aren't rabid. See, rabid wolves don't travel in a pack. They're ostracized and forced to move alone."

"Rabid or not rabid, it doesn't really matter much. Either way they'll be dead."

I'm not one to normally raise my voice but these men are monsters.

"You don't have to kill them."

As I try to step forward, Abe grabs my arm holding me back. Whispering softly.

"I know that you're bite is worse than your bark, but you don't need to prove it."

The man shifts his attention to me.

"I'm not sure if you're from around here, friends. I'm betting not. We got farms and we got families to protect, and that's what we're gonna do."

Mitch nods.

"Actually, we are after the same thing you are. We just don't think a slaughter is necessary."

At this point Abe moves Mitch and I away from the men.

"Let's go get that net gun."

Abe speaks to Mitch as we make our way through the crowd.

"I understand who you are now. You're the kind that pokes the beast until the beast bites."

"I had it under control and even if I didn't pint size here had my back."

"I don't think you had it under control no matter who was on your side. I think in another five minutes you would have replaced the wolf as the focus for tomorrow's hunt."

We quickly find the net gun and make our way back out of the store after buying the gun and a few other supplies. As we begin heading out we get a call from Chloe asking us to meet her back at the hotel. Once we get there and get settles in Abe begins to raid the mini fridge.

"Since the French government is paying."

Jackson shakes his head, looking down at a small notebook.

"Look I know it's crazy."

I take one of the small vodkas Abe took from the fridge.

"Of course it's crazy. What are you saying? That this Evan Lee Hartley is somehow connected to the wolves?"

"I don't know. But i'm telling you, the wolves were in a submission posture."

Abe laughs.

"Like you were when Kat, first moved to Africa."

Abe and I laugh as Jackson shakes his head.

"Ha Ha Ha, very funny."

"Baby, you need some sleep. We've travelled too many times zones this week,"

"I keep wondering what my father would think if he saw what I saw today at the prison."

Abe stands.

"I think he would say, Since the french government is paying."

Abe opens the mini fridge again and makes a ringing noise. As he does I fall over onto the bed, laying sideways on the bed.

"Abe, I don't think getting hammered is a good idea right now."

"When is getting hammered not a good idea?"

"What if we get called into the field and you cant stand up straight?"

"Ah, woman you underestimate me."

"I've gotta agree with Kat, I'm all for drinking, and you both know that. But if I can't be with her, I would like whoever can be to be sober."

I sit up and kiss Jackson on the cheek.

"Do you think we will get a good night sleep tonight?"

Abe shakes his head.

"You two better, because I'm in the room tonight."

We laugh as I fall back onto the bed exhausted as Jackson reaches back to rub my leg. Soon the three of us get ready for bed and I quickly fall asleep. However, around one that morning I wake up, thinking to myself, 'I wonder what time it is back home.' When I roll over I see Jackson is also awake. I whisper to him, trying not to wake Abe.

"Can't sleep?"

He looks over at me and smile softly.

"Yeah, can't sleep. Are you okay?"

"I think it's just my internal clock."

He nods and chuckles softly.

"Probably."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just keep thinking about my father and what's going on. I mean if he's right what is going to happen what are we going to do?"

I smile softly as I place my hand on his cheek.

"If he was right, we find a way to fix it, go home and we focus on having our little cubs."

Jackson smiles, his oh so charming smile and nods. Before leaning in and giving me a soft kiss. . I place my hands on his cheek and kiss him back. Even though we should break our kisses, we don't and continue to hold each other close, sharing passionate, loving kisses. Before long we hear Abe let out a sigh.

"I am still here."

We laugh softly as we break apart and Jackson sighs.

"Sorry Abe."

Abe sighs again and rolls over, as Jackson kisses my forehead, and I snuggle up against to his chest. It doesn't take long for me to fall back asleep. I always feel so safe in Jackson's arms.


	7. Into The Woods

Chapter Seven

Into the Woods

We wake the next morning to Abe throwing a pillow at us.

"Wake up you two. Time to get ready to go save the world."

I stretch as Jackson pulls the covers back over his head.

"Come on Jackson. Abe's right. Plus the faster we save the world, the faster we can go home."

"Your lady is right, plus she and I have a date with a wolf."

"Don't forget the mad Doctor."

"Of course, how could I?"

I laugh softly as I get up and get ready for our day of walking through the woods. When I get out of the bathroom after showering, changing, and getting ready, Jackson is still in bed. While he is sitting up he is still rubbing his eyes and looks exhausted. I walk over and give him a quick kiss before I leave.

"Don't make Chloe and Jamie wait to long for you."

"I won't. I'll see you later. I love you."

I chuckle softly as I head for the door.

"I love you too."

Abe scoffs and chuckles.

"What no love for the big guy?"

Jackson laughs.

"Yeah, love you too Abe."

The three of us laugh as Abe and I head out of the hotel room to meet Mitch down stairs in the hotel lobby. Of course he looks as if he has been waiting for hours on us.

"You two ready to go get a wolf?"

Abe nods.

"As ready as we'll ever be."

It doesn't take long to reach the forest near the prison, which should logically be where the wolves are, But then again with what we are dealing with logic doesn't always stand true. As we pull up Mitch rolls his neck, as if he is trying to pop it.

"Yeah, this looks like the place."

I nod.

"Yeah it does."

The three of us get out of the SUV and gather our hunting supplies. As we start into the forest Abe hands me the net gun.

"Hold this."

Mitch looks at us confused as Abe picks up a stick, cutting into one end of it with his knife and sticking the other end in the ground.

"What are you doing?"

"He is marking our path."

Abe stands and takes the net gun back.

"You want to find your way back, don't you."

I laugh softly as Mitch nods. Before Abe and turn back to the forest we hear a gun shot in the distance. Mitch lets out a worrism sigh.

"Alright, let's do this."

We walk deeper into the woods, looking for any sign of the pack. Every now and then Abe or I mark our path with another stick. As we make our way cross a small creek we hear a phone go off. Abe and I both look to Mitch who is cringing.

"Sorry, I didn't think th… I gotta take this."

Mitch answers the phone.

"Hello. I know, i'll look, if there's something to be done,we should do it. Yes. Look, I just. Let me. Let me talk to a few people I know, okay? Alright. Hey, hello?"

Mitch looks at his phone, whomever it was they hung up.

"I'm turning this off now."

I look over at him a little considered.

"Is everything okay?"

"That was my ex."

"Ah, you have an ex."

I walk up next to Abe who continues my thought.

"That's good to know."

"Some might assume you were incapable of deep human contact."

"Yeah, my ex would be one of those. We have a daughter."

"Wonderful."

I turn back to Mitch.

"How old is she?"

Mitch gives me an I don't wanna talk about this look.

"I thought we were supposed to be quiet."

We walk for a little longer, before a heavy fog drops onto us. It's not surprising with the rain coming down. Before long Abe stops. Mitch walks up next to him.

"What is it?"

"There."

Abe points to a hole in the side of a very small hill as I walk up behind Mitch.

"A den."

I move in front of them and kneel down, looking at some tracks.

"Fresh tracks, which means the wolves will be back soon."

Abe nods.

"Which means we should get out of here before they do."

"Yeah."

We walk around the woods some more, following some of the tracks. Eventually we come across a very very small clearing with a wolf pup in the middle of it. Since I somehow ended up in front I stop and the boys stop behind me as we do our best to stay out of sight, Abe tries steps in front of me. The worst thing we could do is to come between a wolf and a pup. Even if they are acting abnormally, they will protect their young.

"I got this."

Abe steps forward toward the pup as it starts to growl at him. When Abe gets about two yards away from the pup, it runs off. As Abe goes after the pup, Mitch and I do our best to keep up with Abe. Before long we see almost a white blur run past us. Both of us stop and turn to each other, confirming that the other saw it as well. We shake our heads and keep going, trying to catch up with Abe. We pick up our speed and begin calling out for him

"Abe! Abe! ABE!"

"How do we lose a huge 6'7 man in the forest."

Mitch scoffs as we run.

Soon we come across a man with long dark, dirty hair, in prison blues, covering in mud, blood, and god knows what else. This must be Evan Lee Hartley, whom is standing in front of Abe, who has his back against a small tree, as Evan Lee begins to quote what sound like bible verses.

"And the beasts shall stand in judgement of the wicked and the boastful."

Mitch and I look around and there are five wolves around us. I know this isn't a time to think about how amazing these animals are, but they truly are beautiful creatures. Mitch reaches back moving himself directly in front of me, as he reaches back and grips my forearm. I can't help but think to myself, 'well, I guess he really is a father.'

As Evan Lee looks us up and down, almost as if he is unsure of what he is seeing, the wolves begin to growl and snarl. He looks down to one of the wolves and they lower their heads as he looks at them. I see what Jackson meant about them acting submissive to him. They act as if they are domesticated pets. Evan Lee looks over to Abe then back to Mitch and myself, before we hear shots ring out in the distance, followed by howls. As the howls begin Evan Lee and the wolves run off. Abe, Mitch, and I look between each other, making sure the others are alright.

As Abe stands we hear footsteps again, someone running toward us. We look into the direction of the noise and we see Chloe and Jackson running towards us. When they get to us they are out of breath and clearly worried. Jackson pulls me into his arms and kisses my forehead, while Abe looks at the two of them confused.

"What are you doing here?"

Jackson replies, still out of breath.

"We're looking for you guys."

Chloe continues.

"An inmate escaped from the prison, we think he might be in these woods."

Mitch nods and sighs.  
"Yeah, we saw him just now."

Jackson looks at me even more worried.

"What?! Are you okay?"

"Yes, we're fine."

"Which way did he go?"

Jackson looks like he is ready to kill Evan Lee himself, as Chloe puts an arm up in protest before I can.

"No, no, it's too dangerous. I'll notify Kraft."

"What are you talking about? He's connected to this. He couldn't have gotten far."

I pull Jackson back as he tries to go off in the direction Evan Lee and the wolves headed in.

"Let Kraft do his job."

Chloe nods.

"When they capture him, I will arrange for an interview."

"Oh, and if he says no?"

Mitch sighs and shakes his head.

"While you three work this out, we still need a wolf to examine."

Jackson shakes his head,

"We saw one about a hundred yards back. It's just been shot."

"Lets go."

Jackson nods and heads back the way he and Chloe came as the rest of us follow him. It doesn't take us very long to find the wolf again. When we do, Mitch begins to look over the poor thing.

"He should be alright. But we will need to get him back to the hotel before we do any tests."


	8. The Experiment

Chapter 8

The Experiment

When we get back to the hotel room, we transport the wolf into Mitch's room. For some odd reason no one seemed to notice or question that we were moving a wolf into the room. Are Americans really so in love with their pets that they carry them into hotels rooms? I mean don't get me wrong I love the dog Jackson and I have, but i'm not carrying that dog into a hotel.

Once inside Mitch begins naming things that he needs:

A coffee pot.

A stirring stick

Two coconuts.

And a car battery.

Jamie, Chloe, and Jackson begin to gather the things that Mitch needs, while Abe and I look over the wolf. Jackson doesn't leave the room however, he calls down to the front desk. Once he hangs up he begins looking over the wolf with Abe and I. The two of us had already managed to remove the bullet but noticed a very odd smell.

"Well, a hotel employee will be coming up with some coconuts very soon."

"Because you couldn't go across the street and get them yourself?"

"Hey, I'm not leaving you in a room with a wolf in it. No matter who else is there."

I look over to him and shake my head.

"Don't treat me like you are my father."

"I'm not… I am just a very protective boyfriend."

I chuckle softly as I stand and go over to help Mitch, when Chloe comes in with a car battery from the rental car.

"Is the wolf gonna be okay?"

Jackson nods.

"He'll be fine. Except for this. When Abe and Kat opened the wound to remove the bullet."

Jackson lifts the bandage we had placed over the wound as chloe looks closer.

"Oh, That's awful."

I nod and turn to her and Jackson.

"Sometimes infected blood can have an off smell."

Chloe shakes her head confused.

"But this is a fresh wound."

"Which means he was already infected."

Mitch nods.

"I'm guessing bacteria. That's the most likely culprit anyway."

"It also means that we may have found what was responsible for the wolves' aggressive behavior."

Chloe looks over to Mitch and I confused.

"Bacteria?"

Mitch turns in the desk chair.  
"It's possible. Want to help out? Come here."

He motions Chloe over, before turning in the chair again, pointing to a cup with blood in it and a toothbrush for a stirring stick.

"That's the wolf's blood. Just keep stirring that. Don't let it thicken."

Chloe stirs the blood as I look down at Mitch.

"Okay, but what does this have to do with Chloe pulling the battery out of the rental car?"

At that moment we hear someone knock on the door.

"Room Service."

Jackson almost runs to the door.  
"I got it."

When he comes back he has two coconuts and nudges Chloe.

"The French government owes me $100."

He hands the coconuts to Mitch.

"Here you go."

"Excellent. Those are perfect."

Mitch goes about connected the car battery to the coffee pot, along with putting the coconut milk into it as well. Before adding the wolf's blood.

"Think of the coffee pot as a wolf's brain. Coconut water is chemically similar to the cerebrospinal fluid that flows through and around the brain. So if our bacteria causes a reaction in our coffee pot brain, then there's a good chance it's responsible for the wolves' abnormal behavior."

I nod and cross my arms, leaning against the wall.

"So, what are we looking for? What happens to prove your right?"

"The current from the battery should stimulate the growth of the bacteria. We're looking for some evidence that he wolf's brain was agitated. For instance, if the liquid starts to bubble up a bit."

"How long?"

"I don't know, a couple hours?"

As Mitch makes his estimation the liquid bubbles and Abe steps forward, still at the back of the group.

"Or a couple of seconds. Look."

Mitch nods, as the liquid bubbles faster.

"Wow.. that's"

Mitch stands, as rest of us back away.  
"Oh no.."

As Mitch says 'oh no,' we all dive away. Of course Jackson grabs me as the two of us dive, rolling over one of the beds and landing on the floor, with Jacksons arms wrapped around me. I smile softly looking down at him, as he chuckles.

"Well that's not exactly how I wanted us to land."

I laugh softly before leaning down and giving him a quick kiss.

Mitch pokes his head up from the bed beside the wolf.  
"Yeah I'd say we are onto something."

I nod and get up.

"Yeah well, we need to get sunshine out of here before he wakes up."

Jackson stands up next to me.

"I agree."

He turns to Abe.

"Abe, you wanna help me out buddy."

"Of course."

I move out of Jackson's way so he can get through to Abe and the wolf.

"Just make sure it's somewhere he won't get shot again."

Jackson nods,  
"We'll take care of him, don't worry."

Chloe looks around at us.

"Well aside from a destroyed hotel room, we did good work here."

Mitch starts to clean up some of his things

"Little early for champagne, don't you think? We don't know anything about the bacteria."

Abe shrugs.

"Well, we've been here for two days, and already, we've discovered unusual bacteria inside a wolf that's behaving abnormally. That's an accomplishment."

I shake my head and lean against the desk.

"No, just because it's in the wolf doesn't mean it's inside the lions, or the cats, or the bats."

Mitch nods.

"Or the bears, or the rhinos."

We hear a knock on the door and Chloe answers the door. When she comes back she looks worried.

"Pack everything we have to get out of here."

Jackson shakes his head taken back at her statement, as we all are.

"How long do we have?"

"I don't know."

We all go back to our rooms and start packing, meeting back in Mitch's room. Abe points at the wolf who we still haven't removed from the room.

"What are we going to do about him?"

Mitch pulls his phone out and makes a call.

"I'm on with Animal Control right now."

Then Chloe's phone goes off.

"Hello. Don't come back to the hotel. We'll meet you at the car rental agency"

The five of us head out as quickly as we can, all pile into the SUV, heading to the car rental agency. When we get there Jamie is already waiting for us.

"What happened?"

Chloe shakes her head.

"Deputy Kraft didn't find Evan Lee Hartley and is looking for someone to blame."

Jamie hands Chloe a bible.

"I found this. It's his, Hartley's. It was in his cell. The guy underlined every reference to animals in the Bible. I mean, every one."

I scoff as I walk up next to Mitch.

"So he WAS quoting the Bible in the woods."

Mitch shrugs.

"He was on death row. Bible comes in very handy on death row."

Jamie reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a photo.

"I also found this."

Chloe nods as we all look over the photo.

"That's Evan Lee Hartley."

I nod and look over to Jackson who looks like he's seen a ghost.

"What is it Jackson? Do you recognize the other man?"

Jackson nods and takes a deep breath.

"That's my father."


	9. Alabama

Chapter 9

Alabama

After fleeing Mississippi we found ourselves in Alabama. Jackson and the others had gone off to find a microscope Mitch could use to examine the sample we took from the wolf. Leaving Abe and I to try and find anything out we can about these animal attacks. After staring at a computer for too long I sit back and rub my eyes as Abe sits across the small table we have managed to grab at a bar.

"You alright?"

He asks handing me a beer.

I nod.

"Yeah, my eyes just need a break."

Abe chuckles.

"You are just like Jackson."

I look at Abe a little confused.

"Whenever we are gone on safari, Jackson is always worried about you back home. It's nice to know that when the two of you are apart you worry about each other so much."

I chuckle softly and nod, after taking a sip of my beer.

"That obvious?"

Abe nods and laughs.

The two of us wait another thirty minutes before the others meet us at the bar. When they arrive I finally put my laptop away and we move to a larger table to fit the six of us. Before Chloe goes off to make a phone call and Mitch begins to explain his findings.

"Once I increased the magnifications, I saw a chemical signature. A string of benign molecules that have no bearing on the bacteria whatsoever."

Jamie Sighs.

"Audience Mitch. Remember it."

This was clearly not the first time she's said that today, but Mitch continues.

"It means the bacteria was man made. And it was signed by the chemist who created it."

Abe nods.

"Then we need to talk to the chemist who created it."

I shake my head.

"It's not that easy. The signature is more like a graffiti tag. You can see it, but it doesn't tell you who painted it."

Jamie sighs.

"So we are at a dead end."

Mitch shakes his head.

"Not yet. I forwarded the signature to a guy I know a M.I.T. He might be able to come up with an ID for us."

Chloe comes back and sighs.

"Pack your bags. We're going to Rio."

Abe begins to laugh.

"I love this job."

I look at her a little confused.

"What's in Rio?"

"You and Mitch said if you could find out what all of these animals we've encountered have in common, you can maybe find a way to figure out what's happening. Well you can add bats in Rio to your lists."

"Bats in Rio?"

"Thousands of them swarming all over Rio, in broad daylight. That's weird, right?"

Mitch shrugs.

"What the daylight thing? Bats are nocturnal, but it's not unheard of."

I shake my head.

"Thousands of them though?"

"Yeah,"

Mitch's phone goes off.

"Oh, excuse me guys."

Jackson stands and looks at Chloe.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

The two of them step a few feet away. Not too far, but just far enough not the be heard in the now crowded bar. But before long Mitch comes back.

"That was my guy at MIT, He was able to ID the signature. It was a chemist who used to work at… Reiden Global."

Jamie cocks her head up, very cocky and in your face like.

"What? I'm sorry. The company that you all keep telling me isn't the root of all evil? That Reiden Global?"

I shake my head and sigh, trying not to laugh. I love her sass.

"Did you get a name?"

"I did, Leo Butler."

Jackson steps back toward the group, back within ear shot.

"Leo Butler?"

Mitch nods.

"Why? You know him?"

"No, but I sure as hell want to."

Chloe takes a deep breath.

"Okay, Jackson, you stay here with Jamie and Katherine and find this Leo Butler. The rest of us will go to Rio."

Not too long after this we head back to the hotel and I start researching Leo Butler, finding out as much about him as I can, which isn't much. Jackson, whom had decided to take a shower, walks out of the bath room with a towel around his waist and laughs at the sight of me on my laptop.

"Did you do this much research before moving to Africa to be with me."

"More… and don't be so cocky, it wasn't just for you. Abe was very charming when I was there too you know."

"True, but you two didn't spend as much quality time together as we did… at least I hope you two didn't."

I laugh softly.

"Please, I'm not even sure I was ever out of my families sight. Even during our quality time."

Jackson laughs and shrugs as he gets dressed, before walking over to me, leaning over to give me a sweet kiss. I kiss him back as i close my eyes, feeling his hands on my cheeks as he almost pulls me up out of the chair. Once I am standing Jackson begins moving his hands down my body to my hips, as he moves back toward the bed. Once he reaches the end of the bed, his knees buckle, as he falls back onto the bed he pulls me on top of him. I giggle softly, as the two of us continue to share increasingly passionate kisses. Sadly, the moment is ruined when we hear a knock on the door.

Jackson puts a finger to his lips and whispers.

"Maybe if we are quiet they'll think we're out."

We wait a few seconds, before hearing a knock again. However, this time it is followed by a voice. Jamie's voice.

"Guys, I know you two are in there, I watched you walk in."

Jackson sighs as I slide off of the bed and stand.

Once he is up he kisses me deeply one last time.

"We will continue this later."

I nod as Jackson goes and lets Jamie into the hotel room.

"Did you find anything out about Leo Butler?"

I nod.

"Word on the street in that Butler has been blackmailing Reiden ever since he went underground and dispersing the money to various charities. Charities all over the world that give money to people who've been wronged by Reiden."

Jackson points to the papers in Jamie's hands.

"Are those internal Reiden Documents?"

"Yeah, I've made some friends over the years. Bloggers. Hacktivists, People Under The Stairs. But they got us these. Which is completely illegal."

I chuckle softly.

"I like it."

Jackson shakes his head.

"We have to find him."

I place a hand on Jackson's shoulder.

"We will get there. Jamie and I pull this information out of thin air, give us two minutes together and i'm sure we'll find him."

"A guy's got to live while he's out there being Robin Hood, right? It appears Butler has been paying himself with a portion of the blackmail money routing it through shell companies, PO boxes all over the Gulf Coast. I think with a little time and some luck. We can get his actual address."

We hear another knock on the door. I sigh softly.

"Is there a party we are throwing I didn't know about?"

Jame goes to open the door.

"Miss Campbell. Agent Shafer FBI. We met at the prison."

"Of course Agent Shafer."

She raises my voice slightly.

"I see what you did there. You said my name louder than necessary as if to alert somebody in your room of my presence."

She shakes her head.

"No not at all. How's you know we were here?"

"Ms. Tousignant asked me to keep her in the loop on Evan Lee Hartley's manhunt. She told me where you'd be staying."

Jackson comes and opens the door wider.

"Agent Shafter. Please, come in."

"Great."

"No, Jackson I don't think…"

"So have you found him? Hartley?"

"Uh I didn't say that. I implied it so you'd let me in."

When we walk back into the main area of the suite, I notice the papers are gone and Jamie steps out of the room.

"Nice Subterfuge game."

"Well, I am a trained professional."

Jackson crosses his arms and leans against the wall.

"What do you want?"

"What does Reiden Global have to do with the prison fire?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"Well Reiden Global was hacked yesterday and somehow, some of their documents found their way into Miss Campbell's email address."

"How?"

"We have a cyber crime division, you know. We're good like that. So, first, I find you scam your way into a crime scene at the prison and now, you've hacked into Reiden Global. So, how about you tell me what you're really up to?"

Jackson clears his throat and looks over at me. We sit down onto the couch, I glance over at Jackson then back to Shafter.

"Well. we found a link between Evan Lee Hartley and a man named Leo Butler. We needed the information from Reiden Global to track down Leo Butler and see if he knows where Evan Lee is."

Shafter nods.

"Okay, let's go find this Leo Butler."


	10. Blame it on Leo

Chapter 10

Blame it on Leo

Agent Shafter basicly dragged Jackson and I from the hotel room, but I can't help but think about where Jamie could be. As the three of us leave Agent Shafter's phone goes off.

"Well, looks like they found Leo Butler's address, so that's where we are going. Can either of you drive a boat?"

Jackson looks at him a little confused.

"Yeah, we both can, but I don't see why you need to know that."

"You'll see."

Shafter smirks and walks toward a car, motioning for Jackson and I to follow him. We drive for about fifteen to twenty minutes in awkward silence before getting to a marina. Where Shafter managers to get a small motor boat and we head out onto the water. Jackson is steering and I am close to the back with him, while Shafter is at the front.

"Hey, you know you can't just arrest him before we've had a chance to talk to him."

Shafter scoffs.

"Of course I can. In fact, I have to. Once i called the Bureau to pinpoint Leo's location from the list of PO boxes, it became an official FBI investigation. Even has a case number."

I shake my head.

"You have to give us 15 minutes with him first. You already forced us to come with you on this little boat ride."

"Now you're giving me orders?"

"15 minutes. That's all we are asking. It's no longer then that horrible car ride."

"Look Ms?, is it Mrs. Oz, whatever, you just told me that Leo Butler's blackmailing a multinational corporation. It's a federal offense."

"Out of everything we told you, that's your takeaway?"

"Federal crime, federal bureau of investigation. You see the linkage?"

Jackson scoffs.

"How about the fact that when this guy was working for reiden, somehow Leo Butler created a bacteria that caused those wolves to attack a prison?"

"Let's see. Leo Butler, a blackmailing embezzler, invents a bacteria that accidentally creates prisoner eating wolves. That's what you want me to tell my bosses at the Bureau? That's a better takeaway?"

I look over at Jackson who is looking at me like 'is this guy fucking serious?' before we continue on in silence for a little while. Shafter breaks the silence.

"So you never did answer my question."

I look over to him.

"What question?"

"Is Oz?"

I scoff and shake my head.

"Oh sore subject?"

"No, i just don't see the need to share personal details with someone who forced us to come along with him and then won't let us question the one man who may know what's happening to the animals."

Shafter shrugs and nods.

Thankfully before too long we arrive at what should be Leo's home. Walk a couple hundred yards from the bank before we get to the house. Once we arrive, we notice the door is open and Jackson walks in, as Shafter protests.

"Hey wait, we can't go in there. We don't have a warrant."

Jackson looks over to me then back to Shafter before entering the house.

"Good thing I'm not a cop."

Jackson and I enter the house, while Shafter stays outside. I scoff softly as we walk in the main room. Which has a large cage in the middle of it.

"What's the cage for?"

I ask as Jackson and I walk around the cage.

"Damned if I know."

Just as we are glancing around we hear footsteps and see someone run past the doorway. Hearing Shafter shout as we head outside.

"Whoa! Federal agent!"

I call out to the man, sweetly.

"Wait! We don't want to hurt you."

The man in front of us is in a graphic tee, a flannel jacket, with fiery red hair, I'm guessing this is Leo Butler. After I call out to Butler, he turns toward Jackson and I. Stopping for a moment before running past me. Once he is behind me , I hear the sound of Jackson punching him, and when I turn around Butler is on the ground, with blood coming out of his mouth. Shafter runs up to me and sighs.

"Or maybe we do just wanna hurt you."

The man is clearly in pain, but Shafter wastes no time getting Butler back inside and into the odd cage in the main room and throwing him in it. Of course once he is able to realize what happened he is anxious, I would be if someone punched me and throw me in a cage. Jackson stands close to the cage door and beings asking Butler questions.

"Look, just tell us what you know, about Evan Lee Hartley."

Butler shakes his head.

"I don't know who that is."

Jackson takes a deep breath.

"Your name is written on almost every other page of his Bible."

"Well, that's suitably eerie."

"What about Robert Oz? Robert Oz, does that ring any bells?"

"Oz. No. Should it? Are you going to hit me again?"

Jackson shakes his head, clearly very frustrated. When he turns his head away from the cage I step forward, taking his place by the cage door, as he turns away.

"Jackson. Please."

I turn back to the man, speaking to him sweetly.

"Look, we need your help. Please, can you just talk to us?"

"So if she's the good cop and he's the bad cop, what does that make you?"

Butler turns toward Shafter, who has his foot up on a stool nearby.

"Oh actually, I'm the only cop."

I shake my head and get Butler's attention again.

"We need to talk to you about Reiden Global."

"No. No. No way."

Butler becomes very frightened at the mention of Reiden.

"Leo, please."

"No Way! I'm not getting involved in this. They've got people everywhere. You could be involved with them for all I know."

"Leo, one of my friends is from Folsom, Louisiana. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Of course."

"There's a brand new library there 'cause of you."

"I heard it came out beautiful."

"What can you tell us about the Alcanivorax bacteria?"

Butler begins to explain the bacteria and eventually comes out of the cage, sitting on the stool Shafter had been posing on, while Jackson and I sit across from him on a bench, and Shafter leans against the table in the room. We go on to explain Mitch's experiment with the coffee pot, which Butler finds amazing.

"So you mimicked the wolf's brain in side a coffee pot? That's actually. That's quite brilliant."

Jackson shakes his head.

"Our brilliance really isn't the message here."

"And then the-the coffee pot exploded?"

I nod.

"Literally."

"Oh, galloping crud."

Shafter sighs and looks at his watch.

"Okay, kiddos. You've had your coffee klatch, time for Loppy Leo to go to jail."

I look up at Shafter and protest.

"No no, ten minutes."

"I'll give you four."

Butler looks between the three of us.

"Jail? Who said anything about jail?"

"Leo, could the bacteria you created have caused the wolves behavior?"

"No, Not the bacteria."

Butler begins to trail off.

"Leo, please. If there's something that you know, just tell us. Look a lot of guys would not have given that money to charity. I know you are one of the good ones."

"Ever wonder why Reiden is so much more successful than all of their competitors? It's because they have a vector that's better than all the others."

"Really?"

Shafter raises his hand.

"Okay, I'll be man enough to admit it. I wouldn't know what a vector is even if the Wifi in this creepy shack was working."

Butler starts to explain.

"A vector is a DNA molecule used to manipulate cellular material on a genetic level."

"Still haven't gotten any smarter in the last five seconds."

"It means they have a molecule that allows them to be faster, better, and cheaper."

"Okay, then why doesn't everybody else just get their own?"

"Because they can't. Among other things, the vector is extremely rare. Outside of Reiden, you are the only other people who know it exists. Only a select few inside Reiden even know where it comes from. They call it the Mother cell"

"That doesn't sound ominous at all."

"They discovered it about a dozen years ago. Preliminary testing proved how powerful it was. By the time they realized the potential side effects, it was too late. They'd already invested too much money to back out."

I lean forward, my elbows on my knees.

"What side effects?"

"I don't sleep anymore, because I lay awake at night counting all the different ways they could kill me… I arrived at 16. 16 different ways."

Jackson shouts

"Leo! Side effects."

I shake my head, and place a hand on his arm.

"It's doing something to the animals, isn't it?"

"Do you know where it is used by Reiden?"

Butler looks between the two of us.

"Maybe you don't understand. The Mother Cell is in every single product that Reiden makes. It's everywhere. It's all over the world, and it can't be stopped."

"No one's gonna hurt you. Just get us the Mother Cell, and all this will be over. We can protect you. Right, Agent Shafter?"

"Absolutely."

"I keep it hidden, not far from here"

Jackson nods.

"Fine, we're going with you."

"No, absolutely not."

"Look, you don't have a say in the matter pal."

"I certainly do. I just won't retrieve it for you."

Shafter crosses his arms

"Well, then you can just go to jail."

"That still doesn't get you the Mother Cell."

"Wait, what if I went with you? Just me."

Jackson protests, of course.

"Katherine, no way."

"One of you guys punched him in the face, and the other one's a cop. I would understand if…"

"That would be entirely acceptable."

Butler interrupts me.

"It would?"

"Entirely. We'll take my boat."

I nod and turn back to Jackson who looks a little annoyed. He clearly hates the idea, but he doesn't protest anymore. Before Butler and I head out on Butler's boat, I give Jackson a soft kiss and whisper softly.

"I'll be fine, don't worry."

He nods, holding me by the back of the neck for a moment, before letting me go.

We ride across down the river for about 10 minutes before docking and getting into a car. I can't help but think about how crazy this is. We drive for about 20 minutes before Butler pulls over to the side of the road and gets out of the car.

"Say there."

"Where are you going?"

"To get it. The mother cell."

Before he leaves Butler leans into the car and takes the keys.

"Almost forgot."

Almost forgot what? Does he think I'm going to leave him here? I being to look around and have an off feelings, so I make sure all the doors in the car are locked, but it doesn't help. After about 5 minutes I hear someone hit the side of the car. I jump and turn to see Butler, so I unlock the door.

"Volia."

He hands me a burlap sack and I open in. Pull out a rather large, scientific looking container with a yellow rock. It almost looks like Amber.

"Wow."

"I know right? I got to admit, I'm kind of glad to be shed of it. Soon as i pack my stuff, i disappear for good."

Butler takes a deep breath and starts the car and the two of us start heading back, as he continues.

"Now it's your problem."

I look over at him a little concerned. As we drive down the road, Butler takes his phone out.

"Here, look."

I take his phone and look at the picture of a beautiful sailboat.

"That's the one I'm gonna buy and I'm gonna name her Ventus. Which is latin for Wind."

"Wow, it's beautiful. You'll have to take me for a sail sometime."

"You don't have to work the charm thing anymore. You got what you came for."

"Leo, I am forever grateful for what you did and I 100% want to go for a sail with you when this is all over."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I do."

I hand him back his phone and Butler looks down at it confused.

"What the hell?"

"What is it?"

"My GPS is on."

"Okay?"

"I don't use my GPS. You… you tricked me."

"What? No, no"

"your friends…. Are tracking me."

"Leo. no no no no no"

"I told you. I told you this would happen. I knew it."

"No no, leo, Listen to me. Nobody is tricking you."

Butler looks over at me betrayed, disappeared, and hurt. In that second I see headlights coming toward the car and before I know it they are coming through the car. Sending the car flying and rolling it onto its roof. I feel myself losing consciousness, as I look at Butler but I can't tell what's gone on. In the few moment before I pass out I hear a strange but familiar voice.

"Where is it?"


	11. The Aftermath

Chapter 11

The Aftermath

The next thing I know I am being pulled from the car by emergency services. The light is burn my eyes and my head feels like it is splitting in half. My vision is very blurry but I am able to make out a few different vehicles and some flashing lights, but I can't tell color or anything like that due to my head ache and blurry vision.

The medic looks me over and begins to start cleaning all of the blood off of me and patching me up. I'm sure I look like I just lost a cage match to a rhino and it feels like it too. Thankfully nothing is broken and I just have some cuts and bruises. Before long I hear Jackson's voice call out.

"No, I need to see her. That's my wife."

Did he just say his wife? I'm sure it was just to get through faster. When I look up to see him Agent Shafter isn't far behind. Jackson looks so worried and almost heartbroken. Shafter looks a little concerned but I'm sure that's more about the Mother Cell then me.

"Hey, hey. Are you okay?"

Jackson places his hands on my knees and kneels down in front of me, since I'm on the bumper of the ambulance. As my gaze meets his I shake my head and begin to cry.

"No. I'm not okay. I lost it."

"You lost what?"

"Leo and I were driving back. He had the Mother Cell out in the woods somewhere. It took forever, but he was telling me about the boat he was gonna buy. And, somebody just rammed into us. The last thing I saw was a man reach into the car and grab the Mother Cell."

Tears begin to roll down my cheeks and my voice begins to crack as I continue on. Jackson moves to the bumper with me and pulls me into his chest as I cry.

"Hey, that doesn't matter right now. I couldn't give two shits about the Mother Cell right now."

He kisses my forehead.

"If I lost you, I think I'd look forward to the animal uprising. At least then I'd know I wouldn't be without you for very long."

Shafter looks around.

"Did you see the man's face? Did he look like Evan Lee?"

I clear my throat.

"Uh… A little bit, i think it could have been him."

"Are you sure."

"It would make the most sense, wouldn't it?"

"And he took the Mother Cell?"

I nod. As Jackson shakes his head in protest.

"We'll deal with it, later. It's gonna be alright."

I scoff.

"On what planet is it gonna be alright?"

Shafter begins to walk away from us.

"I'm gonna call this into the Marshal's Office."

Jackson is still trying to console me.

"It's not your fault. Alright? You're… You're okay. That's the most important thing."

I shake my head.

"No it's not, Jackson. I had the key to ending this in my hands and now Evan Lee has it. God only knows what he's going to do with it."

It doesn't take long for the medic to clear me to leave the scene and I am all too happy to do so. I never want to come back to Mobile Alabama, again, after we leave. Shafter, Jackson and I get into Shafter's car, the same one he had driven us to the boat dock in the day before. Jackson gets in the back with me and Shafter drives away from the scene. As soon as the vehicle starts moving I can feel Jackson's eyes on me. When I look over he is scanning my body up and down to make sure that I am really alright and didn't just try to act like I was okay to get out of there,

"Jackson, really I'm fine."

"Yeah, well, I'm just making sure. Do you remember when you fell out of the caravan and broke your ankle. You wouldn't let me or my mother look at it and you ended up being laid up for twice as long."

Agent Shafter laughs.

"You broke your ankle getting out of a caravan?"

"She hit the ground pretty hard too. We parked on some rocks and she was the first to get out. But graceful here forgot to look at her feet before she stepped out."

"Hey, I looked at my feet okay? It was just the loose rocks."

"Uh huh… you still aren't helping your case babe."

I sigh and turn to Jackson, letting him look me over and make sure that nothing is injured more than I am letting on. Before long Shafter glance back at us in his rear view mirror.

"Hey, you guys wanna get some breakfast? There's a nice little coffee shop at the hotel"

"Sounds good to me."

I nod in agreement.

It doesn't take us long to get into town or to the coffee shop at the hotel. Once we are there, Shafter starts asking me if I can remember anything about Evan Lee. As he does Jackson goes to get us something to drink. Jackson walks back to the table we are at, a little excited, and not in a good way.

"Hey, do you have a recent photo of Evan Lee?"

"Just on the fugitive notification."

Shafter pulls up a picture of Evan Lee on his phone. Jackson takes is and begins comparing it to the one he has of Evan Lee and his father.

"Look at his eyes. They appear normal. And then here, his pupil is blown. Sometime after meeting my father, Evan Lee suffered the same mutation as those animals."

"Jackson, what are you talking about? The mutation hasn't affected anyone."

Shafter looks a little confused.

"So you are telling me this is the reason he attacked?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

I shake my head and look at the picture of Evan Lee for a moment.

"He was wearing a light-colored shirt. I remember because everything was so dark."

Jackson looks over to me.

"You didn't mention that before."

Shafter shifts back in his seat.

"You know, Katherine, there's a chance I can help you remember if, uh, if you're willing to try."

I glance over to Jackson, then back to Shafter before nodding.

"Yeah, let's give it a shot."

"Alright, we will try when we get back to the hotel room."

The three of us finish our breakfast quickly before heading back to the hotel room. When we get there Jamie is in the hall, leaving her room. When she sees us, she runs up to us.

"Oh my god, what happened? Are you okay?"

She looks over my face and all the cuts on it.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just got into a car accident. But I promise i'm fine."

Shafter moves past us, as Jamie pulls me in for a hug.

"Come on, let's get into your room so we can get started?"

Jamie looks confused.

"Started on what?"

"Agent Shafter thinks that he can help me remember things about what happened, like the car, plate number, stuff like that."

The four of us make our way to the room Jackson and I were sharing and Shafter pulls out two chairs, sitting them in front of one another and sits down. I sit across from Shafter, Jackson on the armchair behind me, and Jamie on the bed.

"Now, I want you to relax, and breathe."

I nod and close my eyes, taking deep breaths, as Shafter continues.

"You've been in an accident. But you're okay. Now, what do you see?"

"I was hanging, because we were upside down. And uh… and the steering wheel was kind of bent towards me."

"Then you hit your head on the passenger window."

I hear Jackson's voice from behind me, before Shafter continues.

"That must have hurt."

"Yeah, and my chest, from the seat belt. It hurt to breathe."

"What else do you remember?"

"The… the side mirror was broken. It was kind of just hanging. And then Evan Lee crouched down. He asked 'where is it?' and then reached across me in the car and took the Mother Cell. and he walked around the front of the car. And the windshield was, it was cracked. And then i looked over and I saw Leo."

I take a deep shaky breath.

"When you looked over at leo, could you see Evan Lee through the window?"

"Yeah, he went and he got into his car."

"Car or truck? When he got into the car did he step up or down?"

"He… stepped up. He stepped up. It was a truck. It was green."

"Good."

"And I was afraid he was gonna ram us again, but he just pulled in front of us and drove off."

"Which means you would've seen the license plate"

"I'm not sure."

I feel Jackson's hand on my shoulder.

"Its okay."

"Just try to remember those plates. They would start with letters. Three letters."

"K, KLL. KLL. like Kill"

I open my eyes and Shafter nods before he stands up.

"I'm gonna go run those plates. Hey, we're gonna find him."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I'll see you three later."

Shafter starts for the door, as does Jamie.

"I'm sure you want to rest, I'll see you guys later."

The two of them leave as I stand. As soon as the door closes I feel Jackson wrap his arms around me.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah I am."


	12. This is What is Sounds Like

Chapter 13

This is What it Sounds Like

After a few minutes, of laying on the bed, Jackson sits up on his elbow and looks over at me.

"I love you so much."

"I love you too."

He smiles that ever so charming smile as I laugh softly, thinking back to this morning.

"Did you call me your wife this morning?"

Jackson turns red and nods, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, uh I did. It just has a more of a kick behind it when I say it."

"Ah.. I thought so."

"But there is something."

He gets up and starts to go through his bags. Before coming back to me. I look at him rather confused as he gets down on to one knee.

"Katherine , will you do me the honour of making me _THE HAPPIEST_ man on the face of the earth?"

I look at him surprised and extremely happy.

"Where is this coming from?"

"Well, I was gonna wait until we fixed whatever is going on with the animals, but since this morning I've been thinking, we may not live to see that, so if I am going to be killed by some animal, I want to be married to you when it happens. Yeah, that sounded better in my head."

I laugh softly.

"I would love to be Mrs. Oz. But we are getting married back home in Africa."

Jackson nods, as he slides the ring on to my finger.

"Agreed."

Once the rings in on my finger, Jackson crawls back into bed and I look down at my ring.

It is so beautiful, it is everything I have ever wanted in a ring.

"We should probably get up and try to find Evan Lee."

"Yeah, you're probably right, but I just wanna lay here, We haven't gotten to have time just to us like this in a long time."

Jackson complains.

"Yes, but we have a job to do."

I lean over and kiss his forehead, before I get up and start getting dressed, thankfully Jackson does as well, because soon after we are dressed Jamie knocks on the door. When I open the door for her she looks very excited.

"What's up?"

"Finding Evan Lee. Or at least trying."

Jackson kind of tilts his head as Jamie walks in, having heard her last comment.

"The FBI can't, but you can?"

"You know how many Law Enforcement officers there are in this country? About a million. But do you know how many dog lovers there are?"

I shake my head.

"We have no idea what you're talking about."

Jamie starts to go through her phone.

"Eighty-five million, look. I posted this on every social media site and local app I could find. 'Looking for the man who killed my golden retriever and drove off in a green pickup. Louisiana plates start with KLL. Mobile, Alabama."

"Wow, you work fast and smart."

"I'm not waiting for the FBI to find Evan Lee Hartley's truck. That son of a bitch nearly killed you."

Jackson nods in approval.

"You are one clever cookie."

"You find anything in Leo's ledger?"

"Uh yeah, this morning before finding out this one was in a car accident. The dates and locations where Reiden's Mother Cell product were used are consistent with pretty much all the infected animals we've seen. Louisiana. L.A. Slovenia, Brazil."

I take a deep breath.

"What if there's nothing we can do about it?"

"If there's nothing that we can do about it, then uh, there's nothing that anyone can do about it, and my father was right, and the whole world goes to hell."

Jamie and I look at each other and then back to Jackson, terrified. Before Jamie's phone goes off.

"Someone spotted Evan Lee."

The three of us jump up and run down stairs into the lobby, where we see Agent Shafter. Jamie starts ahead of Jackson and I who have had enough of Shafter for one day.

"Hey Shafter, Hey! Why didn't you return my text?"

"Oh, sorry, there's nothing to report yet. We haven't found Evan Lee."

"We did,"

Jamie shows Shafter the picture of the truck that had rammed Leo and I in a shopping outlet parking lot. Shafter nods and the four of us head out. Piling into Shafter's vehicle and racing to the shopping outlet in the picture, when we get there I step out of the car and see the green truck, which doesn't really look like it's been in an accident due to the cage on the grill and front bumper.

"That's it. That's his truck."

"Alright, I want the three of you to go back to the hotel."

I step toward Shafter,

"No, the answer is no."

"Then stay back, all of you."

Jamie, Jackson, and I stay at the car as Shafter walks toward the truck. Jackson sighs and shakes his head.

"Evan Lee has every cop in the country after him. What would he be doing here in the middle of town?"

Jamie looks over to him.

"He told his victim's widow that he was looking for a cure."

I shrug.

"In Mobile?"

Jackson shakes his head and looks around before seeing an eye doctor's office.

"We know that his eye changed. We also know that he worked for my father who cut out the eyes of infected animals."

I look at Jackson confused.

"He's gonna cut out his own eyes?"

"I don't know, but i'm sure gonna find out."

Jackson starts jogging toward the building, Jamie and I sigh and glance at each other, before taking off after Jackson. When we get to the doors of the eye doctor's office, they are locked, but we can hear screams coming from inside. Jackson turns his face away and elbows the glass door, breaking the glass. Jamie and I, who are a few feet away throw up our hands, as Shafter runs up behind us.

"Hey!"

Upon hearing the screams Shafter runs in, gun drawn. He heads back into the office to an exam room. When we get there Evan Lee is clearly in a lot of pain and the doctor has a very long needle in hand.

"He made me do it!"

The doctor cries out as Shafter and Jackson burst into the room.

"FBI! Back up."

Shafter directs the Doctor, pointing his gun at Evan Lee.

Jackson runs up to Evan Lee, who is holding the sides of his head in pain, blood coming out of his left eye.

"My name is Jackson Oz. Listen to me. You knew my father.."

"Get away from me!"

Evan Lee yells.

"Why'd you think this would cure you? You thought this this would cure you?! Did my father think it would cure animals?"

Jackson starts firing questions at Evan Lee, who appears to be growing weaker and weaker by the second. Shafter tries to keep Jamie and I in the hallway, but I break past him, running up to the small table next to Evan Lee to see the Mother Cell. I quickly put it in the container it had been in before.

"Your father did this to me."

Evan Lee goes limp and Jackson looks at him and is almost completely shattered. As Shafter sighs.

"He's gone. I'm sorry."

Jamie walks up next to Jackson and places a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Jackson."

I step toward the two of them.

"But we got it. This could be the answer."

Shafter shakes his head and starts to push us from the room.

"I got to call this into the field office. Go. GO! I got this. Go!"

He shuts the door behind us and the three of us run back to the car.

Jamie looks between Jackson and I.

"Should we had back to the hotel?"

I nod.

"In a few minutes this place will be crawling with FBI agents, so we should go."

Jackson nods in agreement and the three of us head out to get a cab. Making our way back to the hotel and our respective rooms. Once we are back in the room I fall onto the bed as Jackson looks around.

"We should get packing."

"Why do you say that?"

I sit up on my elbows.

"Because as soon as something like this happens we are rushed off to some other destination."

I nod.

"Yeah, you are probably right."

"I better call and let the others know that we found the Mother Cell."

Jackson pulls out his phone and calls Chloe.

"Chloe, it's me. We found him, so as soon as you get this…"

I flip on the tv and it comes up to a news station, showing pictures from outside the eye doctor's office so I turn up the volume.

"Live at the crime scene. Police Refuse to comment, but the possibility of a murder-suicide has not been ruled out."

"Call me."

Jackson says hanging up the phone as he gently takes the remote out of my hand and flips through the other news channels, but the report stays the same.

"Authorities have yet to identify the body of one man, but the second is confirmed to be Dr Humboldt Swinney. Apparently, the bodies were discovered when a customer noticed broken glass outside of Dr. Swinney's door and called 911."

Jackson turns me and says in a very worried and rushed tone.

"We have to go. now."

Jackson pulls out his phone, making a call.

"Jamie, listen to me. Ben killed the optometrist. Okay? He didn't call it into the field office. He killed him."

Jackson looks down at his phone frustrated as the call drops. He turns back to me.

"Stay here, Pack the bags and Don't do anything else."

He cups my cheeks and gives me a deep kiss before running out of the room, giving me no time to protest. I start running around the room packing all of our things, thankfully we don't have that much stuff since we keep jumping from place to place. It takes me a matter of minutes to get everything packed and I pace back and forth in the room, waiting for Jackson and Jamie.

Before long Jackson comes back into the room.

"We gotta leave now. Go check out and meet Jamie and I at the car."

I nod and head out meeting Jamie in the hall. As she opens her door she hands me her key and goes into pack her things as I head down to turn in the keys and check out, before heading out to the car. Meeting Jamie and Jackson there.

"I got a message from Chloe they are in Washington DC."

"Then let's go."


	13. Our New Secret

Chapter 13

Our New Secret

Jackson, Jamie, and I board a plane from Mobile to Washing DC, to meet Chloe, Mitch and Abe. While I am not happy about yet another plane ride, I am looking forward to seeing Abe again, and the plane rides are getting more and more bearable as this adventure continues. Thankfully it doesn't take us to long to get to DC and we see the group sitting in the bar area of the airport.

"Rafiki. Uzuri."

Abe calls out to us in the nicknames he's had for Jackson and I. Meaning friend and beauty in swahili. Abe looks to me and jackson, who both look like we've been in a fight. Jackson because he had been with Shafter and me because of the car accident.

"Who did this to you?"

Jackson sighs softly.

"It's a very long story. I'll tell you later."

I take the Mother Cell out of my bag and hand it to Chloe. Who looks up at me a little confused.

"What is it?"

"They call it the Mother Cell."

Mitch looks up to Jamie and then to Jackson and myself.

"What the hell is a Mother Cell?"

I shrug and take a deep breath, but before I can start explaining Chloe cuts me off, with a loud gasp.

"More importantly what is that on your finger?"

She looks up at me with a very happy and excited smile on her face, as does everyone else. Abe pulls Jackson in to a bear hug.

"Ahh… Rafiki. You finally got her a ring huh?"

Chloe and Jamie give me a hug and look over the ring.

"It's so beautiful."

"Good choice Jackson."

Mitch stands and extends a hand to Jackson.

"Well coming from someone who's been married and divorced. I wish you two the best of luck."

Jackson shakes his hand as Abe pulls me into a hug, picking me up off the ground and laughing.

"I'm so happy for you both. But I'm more happy that we get to have a party to celebrate."

Jackson shakes his head.

"After we fix whatever it is that's going on."

I nod.  
"No one is to even whisper the words wedding planner or anything of the sort until we fix the animals."

The group nods and we all sit back down.

"Anyway, as I was saying, the Mother Cell is a piece of DNA coding that's in every product Reiden makes."

Jamie nods and looks over to Mitch.

"This is what's causing the animals to attack."

Mitch shakes his head and adjusts his glasses.

"So you're telling me that this is changing the animals on a DNA level."

I nod.

"Yes, that appears to be the case, yes."

Abe takes a deep breath.

"So where is our adventure taking us next?

Jamie clears her throat.

"Um… it may be a little hard for me to leave the country."

I glance between her and Jackson.

"Why?"

Jackson takes a deep breath.

"Ben wasn't FBI, he was working for someone else. He killed the optometrist and tried to kill me, Jamie saved my life."

I nod, a little shocked by hearing that not only was Jackson almost killed but that Jamie had killed Ben saving him. Chloe sighs and steps back to the group.

"Well, lucky for us there are people who will make Jamie a fake ID. We can get one and head out with in the next few hours."

Everyone quickly gathers their things and heads out of the airport. It is so early I can see the sun rising in the distance as I snuggle up to Jackson, trying to get what sleep I can in the car. It doesn't take us long to find someone to make Jamie's fake ID and he gets started right away. However, he does frustrate Jamie who is doing her best to take a decent photo, while the man clicks away.

*Click*

"Hey I wasn't ready."

*Click Click*

"We're good. I have everything I need."

The man takes his camera and moves to a small work station, as Jamie stands and walks over to Abe and I.

"I should just turn myself in."

Abe sighs and hands Jamie a cup of tea.

"I know you said that. Just drink the iced tea. It will make you feel better."

Jamie sighs.

"Look, seriously,, I shot a man, an FBI Agent. I can't just walk away from that."

I take a deep breath.

"No, a man claiming to be an FBI agent tried to kill you and you defended yourself. Jamie if you hadn't done what you did the love of my life wouldn't be alive right now. I can't thank you enough for that."

She shakes her head.

"Doesn't matter, we can't prove that. So Let's do something about it. Let's prove that not-really-FBI agent Ben Shafer was working for Reiden. Instead of.."

"We will."

We Will?"

"Yes,"

"How?"

"I'm not sure yet, but it's the very least I can do to repay you."

Abe sighs next to me.

"We will figure something out. Right now we worry about keeping you safe, okay?"

Chloe raises her voice talking to the man making Jamie's ID.

"Forty-eight hours? You said you could do it in two."

"I did, and I can. But only for repeat clientele."

Chloe sighs and hands the man a stack of bills.

"Consider us old friends and make it an hour."

The man nods,

"I need a name. For the passport."

Jamie thinks for a moment before taking a deep breath.

"Armstrong. Nancy Armstrong."

After a few minutes I walk to the small office area Jackson and Mitch are in, coming into the conversation while Mitch is explaining something.

"Let's assume for a second that everything that the chemist said was true. That molecules from this Mother Cell are in every single one of Reiden's still need proof that this is what's causing the aberrant behavior in the animals. We need, uh I don't want to say a smoking gun, that's way too dramatic, but a bloody knife? If we had a bloody knife, then perhaps we could build a proper case."

I lean against the door frame.

"Is it possible to prove."

Mitch shrugs and cringes as Chloe steps up beside me.

"We are going to Paris."

Mitch drops his shoulders.

"Not that I don't love that sentence, but why? What's in paris?"

"A pack of four Eurasian brown bears were being studied for migration and feeding habits. Two days ago their trackers went offline. The bio-lab assumed it was just interference with the satellite. Then, yesterday, one of the bears showed up in an apartment in the 16th arrondissement and neatly killed the woman who lived there. That bear is now apparently deep in hibernation in a research facility."

I glance to Chloe over my shoulder.

"Hibernating?"

Jackson looks to her confused.

"In the middle of summer."

Chloe nods.

"Yes. and the rest of the pack are still missing."

Mitch speaks with his hand over his mouth.

"Sleuth."

"Pardon?"

"A pack of bears is called a sleuth."

Jackson sighs.

"Whatever. There, there's your bloody knife."

Mitch nods.

"Yeah, well, if there's evidence of this Mother Cell in that bear's bloodstream, then, that would do it."

"Perfect. When do we leave?"

Chloe sighs,

"Jamie's passport will be ready in an hour. We'll have time to make our flight."

Mitch stands and heads for the door, as I call out to him.

"Where are you going?"

"Drugstore. If we're getting on a red-eye to Paris, i need some melatonin."


	14. Paris

Chapter Fourteen

Paris

Once in Paris Chloe assigns who is going where. She sends Jamie, Mitch, and Abe to the research room where the bear is being kept, while Jackson and I go with her to the boardrooms up stairs to try and explain what is going on. As we walk are there we walk rather quickly and with purpose as we head to the main conference room. Chloe is in her element here, while she is always confident and holding herself high, she seems to take that to a whole other level here.

Once we arrive in the conference room there are already ten to twelve french nationalists around the table talking. Of course since they are speaking French I can only make out a few works. 'No more sightings.' 'bears,' 'cars'. 'Noise,' and 'people.' Jackson speaks up to the group.

"I think you're wrong."

Chloe and I turned to him surprised.

"You can understand what they're saying?"

"Enough of it. I know that, Kat can too."

I scoff.

"Not enough to know they're wrong."

One of the men in a green polo, who appears to be a park ranger of some kind.

"And you are?"

Chloe takes a deep breath.

"DGSE. they're with me."

One of the other men turn toward us.

"And, uh, what are you thinking? Why is he wrong?"

Jackson, puts his hands into his pockets, a little nervous. He has never liked talking in front of people.

"Look, these aren't necessarily normal bears."

A man with slicked back black hair leans forward from the end of the table.

"What kind of bears are they? What do you mean, they aren't normal?"

Jackson sighs as I step up next to him, taking a deep breath before I address the group.

"We aren't sure. But they won't necessarily be acting like you'd expect them to. And bears stick together so if one entered the city, it's possible and very likely, that the others will too."

The man nods.

"Perhaps they are travelling underground? The sewers, tunnels, the catacombs? And that's why they haven't been spotted."

Jackson takes a deep breath.  
"From what we've already seen, these bears, they're unfazed by people. So if they want food before they hibernate, they're gonna feed on whatever's available."

"There are more than 300 miles of sewers and tunnels that run under Paris."

I sigh softly and shake my head.

"Then we better get searching."

The meeting breaks up, as the three of us quickly make our way out of the boardroom, as Chloe talks to us in a hushed tone.

"That was perfect. You two motivated them, maybe got them looking in the right direction."

Just then we hear a man's voice all out from behind us. It sounds like the man who was the most talkative in the meeting.

"Chloe!"

When we turn we see that man with the slicked back black hair, who Chloe looks like she'd rather run away from.

"Uh, Jean-Michel Lion, Jackson Oz and Katherine Smith."

Jackson nods to the man.

"Hey."

"Hello."

I stay quiet, unsure about the man. I mean Chloe is one of the nicest people I've met, if she doesn't want to be around him, something's got to be off about him. Chloe takes a deep breath before she continues.

"Jean-Michel is a civil engineer."

"I did not know you were back. Your sister said you left town."

"I'm just here for a few days."

"And why are the Americans interested in a pack of missing French bears?"

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

"Ah. secret affairs, I understand that. But uh, heh, bears?"

"If I could tell you, I would. But I can't."

"Okay. if I get any leads on where they may be, I'll call you straight away."

"Thank you."

The two exchange a few words in French but I can't understand enough of it to figure out what they're saying. As Jackson and I watch the two of them talk, I can see tears in Chloe's eyes and hear that see is trying not to let any catch in her throat. As we turn and start to walk away Jackson asks the obvious question.  
"So that's him, huh? The ex-fiance."

"That's him."

I remember Jackson saying something to me about Chloe coming to Africa on her Honeymoon, but she ended up going alone. So it would make sense there is an ex-fiance, although if I were her, I'd be wishing he had gone on the Africa trip, instead of her.

We make our way to Chloe's house in silence. Having ran into Ab, Jamie, and Mitch, we all ended up there at the same time, which I have to say, calms my nervous a little bit. Abe and I are taking a little tour of Chloe's house, while the other are in the kitchen.

"There are two beds in the guest bedroom and the sofa opens up into a bed as well."

Abe chuckles.

"The most important question is where is the wine? I hear you French are very famous for it."

Chloe smiles, assumed.

"In the kitchen, help yourself."

Abe and I enter the kitchen as Chloe heads into, what I can only assume, is her bedroom. When we get there, Mitch is unpacking a grocery bag, and Jackson is leaning on the counter.

"So no defiant pupil? What does that mean?"

"I don't know yet. But it doesn't necessarily mean that the bear wasn't affected by the Mother Cell."

Abe takes to glasses and a bottle of wine, before heading out of the room. I assume it is to find Jamie. Not that it matters that he took a bottle of wine, there are six left. As Mitch crosses to the fridge to put a few things away I cross over to Jackson, who places an arm around me and kisses my forehead.

"Hey baby."

Mitch continues on after cringing at the two of us.

"Blood labs should be back in a couple of hours."

I look over at him confused.

"But why would they be hibernating in the middle of summer?"

Mitch turns to Jackson and I, being back at the bags and unpacking a few more things.

"There are two types of hibernation. One is what we normally think of. Yogi Bear goes into a deep suspended animation to survive a winter of scarce resources. The other is when an animal falls temporarily dormant, so that resources can be biologically redirected."

Jackson shakes his head and rubs his chin.

"What do you mean redirected?"

I glance up to Jackson.

"Like why little kids sleep so deeply when they're growing."

Jackson glances down to me.

"Have you been studying for when we have our own?"

I shrug,

"Maybe. But do you mean you think the bear's are changing?"

I look back to Mitch.

"I think it's possible. The question is, into what?"

The three of us fall silent for a moment. Before I step away from Jackson and grab three glass, setting them on the counter, before opening a bottle of wine.

"Let's not worry about that right now. We are in Paris and we have wine. I can't think of a better combination."

I hand a glass to Mitch and grab the other two walking back over to Jackson. Who, once he takes his glass of wine wraps an arm around me and places his forehead against mine.  
"I can think of a better one."

I giggle softly as Mitch groans, clearly not one for the mushy stuff. Before long Mitch and I start on dinner. Nothing special just some spaghetti, but feeding all of us is a lot of food, it doesn't take us long to get it done.

"Hey Jackson, could you let the other's know dinners almost done."

Jackson nods.

"Yeah sure."

Once Jackson's gone Mitch turns to me as I start getting plates and things to sit the table.

"So you're really gonna marry that guy?"

I look up a him, confused by his question.

"Yes."

"Are you two going to go back to Africa once this is all over."

"Mitch don't try to force conversation. It's not your best work. But yes, I imagine we will."

"What did Jackson mean when he asked if you had been studying?"

"Oh, Jackson and I want to have a family so I've been reading up an childhood development."

"Weren't you a nurse back when you lived in New York and in Africa?"

"I was and am a trauma nurse, not a child's or labor and delivery nurse."

"Ah.. You know I have a daughter, Clementine. I had a wife too. But I was young and stupid and let that blow up in my face after Clem got sick, and now I am doing anything and everything I can to make it up to her."

I nod and glance over to Mitch, sitting the plates and things down on the counter, as he continues.

"For as long as she can remember she's been the girl who's dying, she's never gotten to have a normal childhood and I took her to every doctor, every specialist, in the country before two years, until her mother forced me to stop. Since she has custody of Clem I couldn't do anything else. And the only thing she has to remember me or from me, is a dog. A service dog, named Henry."

Mitch looks down his eyes beginning to tear up. I guess I spent to much time disliking the guy, I never thought about what his past had been like.

"At least you tried for as long as you could, and you gave her not only her best friend, but someone who is going to be able to help her for a long time."


	15. Reiden Headquarters

Chapter Fifteen

Reiden Headquarters

Chloe had left the house before we had started dinner and since all of us were to hungry to wait for her, we ate. I make sure to fit a plate for Chloe and put it in the fridge before the boys can get ahold of the rest of the food. After dinner we are talking about how we can get Jamie out of this mess.

"Guys, it's fine. I have the fake ID and Passport, that will work for now."

I shrug.

"Until we get back to the US and if the FBI is looking for you there, we are screwed."

Abe sits down having gotten another bottle of wine.

"What if we prove Jamie is innocent, by proving Ben was working for Reiden."

Jackson points to Abe.

"That's a great idea."

Chloe walks into the dining room.

"What is?"

"Abe just had an idea, about Jamie. She can't spend the rest of her life running. We have to get her out of it by proving that Ben Shafer was on Reiden's payroll."

"Okay."

I lean against the doorway to the kitchen.  
"Reiden has an office here in Paris."

Jackson nods.  
"We're breaking in."

Jamie nods.  
"The Paris Reiden only handles European contracts, but their computer network is linked to the central system back in Boston, which means, if we can hack into their system, we can prove that Ben Shafer was on their payroll."

Chloe sits down into one of the chairs.

"But how are we gonna do that?"

"What, the hacking into the system part or the proving it part."

"Both."

Mitch hands her a glass of wine.

"Here, it'll make more sense if your drink this."

We go over our plan to hack into Reiden's system and plan out every for the following morning. Waking up early to make sure that we all look nice and professional. I walk out of the bathroom after putting on my makeup, which I rarely do, but I think it turned out alright, when I look over I see Jackson trying to tie his tie in the hall mirror. I laugh softly as I walk over to him.

"Do you need some help?"

He chuckles and shrugs.

"If you wouldn't mind."

I smile softly as I help him with his tie. He looks so sharp, I never get to see him in anything like this. I mean I love his rugged look, but it's nice to see him dressed up. I look up into his eyes, while tying his tie.

"What?"

He smiles softly as I glance back down to his tie.

"I was just thinking about how beautiful. With or without your makeup on, dressed up or in your normal clothes."

I shake my head and blush as he lifts my chin with his pointer finger.

"What did I do to desire you?"

I smile softly, as I finish tying his tie, before he leans in to kiss me. It doesn't take long for all of us to get and head out, Well all but Mitch, who's job is to hack into the system and get the code to get into the employee files, before standing by to make sure that we get back ups of all the files. Chloe, Abe, Jackson, and I are standing together, talking, while Jamie is over sitting at the small cafe area inside the building, setting up her laptop. We all have earpieces and are trying to look like we are there for some kind of important business. Before long we hear Jamie in our ears.

"Six o'clock, blue suit dark hair. He's Antoine Bellrose, senior VP, financial strategy."

"Got it."

Chloe nods and begins walking toward him, but she changes her course. I look over to Jackson, acting like I'm talking to him, while I am talking to Chloe.

"What is it?"

"The security guard over there, i know him. He's ex- DGSE. I can't do this. He's gonna recognize me."

Abe takes a deep breath.  
"We have to get out of here. We need a new plan."

By now, Chloe had made it look like she needed to do something on the other side of the large room and made her way back to us. Jackson shakes his head, holding out his hand to Chloe.

"I got this, give me your phone."

Chloe hands her phone to Jackson who walks over to Mr. Bellrose, but he is too far away for us to hear anything other then what Jackson is saying through the headset.

"Monsieur Bellrose? Do you speak English? Fantastic. My name is Scott Polson. Uh, i'm with Msisimko Safari Camp back in Africa. Have you ever been to Africa Mr. Bellrose? Neither did the Finance Department in the States, which is why they nominated you for the trip. I knew you didn't get our letters. That's probably why you didn't respond. For the work you've done you've been nominated for a trip to Africa."

Jackson continues conning the poor man, long enough for Jamie to use the video call on her phone to make the computer think that Mr. Bellrose is the one trying to login. I lean over to Abe.  
"Did he ever swindle me like his when we first met?"

Abe chuckles.

"Sadly, yes. I've seen that man pull magically dates out of thin air for you, Kat."

I laugh softly and shake my head. Luckily before long Jamie is able to get in and get the documents out of the database and we all make out way out of the building. When we get back to the car, we get a phone call from Abe. Telling us that the bear in the lab escaped and is heading away from its normal area. So Abe, Chloe, Jackson, and I head the direction the bear is. Jamie had taken a spread car and in heading back to the lab.


	16. The Bears

**Chapter Sixteen**

 **The Bears**

 **As Abe, Chloe, Jackson, and I start to head toward some of the tunnels we were going to in order to begin our search for the bears, Abe's phone begins to go off.**

 **"It's Mitch."**

 **Jackson glances up in the rearview mirror.**

 **"Put it on speaker."**

 **"Am I the only one who finds it odd that Mitch called Abe before anyone else?"**

 **I can see a smile grin come across Jackson's face. Somehow he got stuck driving and I got put in the back seat with Abe. Not that I don't enjoy Abe, but I don't really care for Chloe trying to get closer to Jackson, especially since he saved her life back in Africa. Abe just shakes his head before answering the call.**

 **"Hey, Mitch."**

 **"Hi, the bear wakes up and smashed its way out of the lab. But I injected it with a…"**

 **The phone skips over the last few words Mitch says as we go throw a wooded area. Jackson leans to his right slightly, why we have a left-handed driver in a country with predominantly right-handed driver cars, I don't know.**

 **"You injected it with what?"**

 **"A microchip… with an RFID tracker."**

 **I turn toward Abe, giving the phone a rather odd look.**

 **"What? Why do you have a Micro with an RFID tracker."**

 **"In case anyone had any plans to release it back into the wild. Don't ask questions, just be grateful."**

 **Jackson shakes his head and recenters himself behind the wheel.**

 **"Okay, where is he now?"**

 **"Same as five minutes ago. He's running through the woods, alongside the highway. It looks like he's heading towards the, uhh. Meudon Forest."**

 **Chloe chuckles softly, correcting Mitch's pronunciation.**

 **"The Meudon Foret?"**

 **"Yeah, that's what I said."**

 **"The Meudon Forest is south, but according to the people from the bio-lab, that bear lived west, in Les Hauts-de-Seine."**

 **Jackson shakes his head.**

 **"So, if he's not headed home, he's headed towards the other bears."**

 **Mitch calls out over the phone, sounding a little confused by what he is about to say.**

 **"Listen, you know how we talked about the bears changing? Well, I think they've developed some kind of… endoskeleton."**

 **"What do you mean?"**

 **"A hard shell, like a hard shell underneath its skin."**

 **"You have got to be kidding."**

 **"Sadly, no."**

 **I chuckle.**

 **"Well, at least you know funny isn't your color. And it's probably a good thing we are heading there already. I don't know if that luck coincidence or a curse."**

 **When we arrive at the Meudon Forest, Jean-Michel is there with a handful of other park rangers and workers. As we approach him, I can see that they have managed to trank one of the bears and have in a cage.**

 **"So, is one of you going to tell me what's going on here?"**

 **Chloe straightens herself as she speaks to him.**

 **"What do you mean?"**

 **"That bear has some kind of super thick skin. It took three tranquilizer darts to bring it down. Is this some kind of next-gen weapon that your agency is experimenting with?"**

 **I scoff softly stepping up next to Chloe.**

 **"No. Even if it were, we wouldn't put innocent people in harm's way to test it."**

 **"Park Service is going to need to cordon off the woods and do a grid search while we look for the other bears, If they're here, we'll find them."**

 **Jean-Michel looks back to the bear and then back to us, as Abe steps up beside Chloe and me.**

 **"Okay, we'll help you look."**

 **"Sure."**

 **Jean-Michel looks around the small area.**

 **"Where's your friend?"**

 **The three of us look around and realize that Jackson is gone. I sigh softly.**

 **"Where did he run off to now?"**

 **Abe shrugs his shoulders.**

 **"Jackson?"**

 **We hear Jackson call back to us, from a couple dozen yards away.**

 **"Over here!"**

 **Abe and I start walking toward the sound of Jackson's voice, before long we can hear the sound of Chloe and Jean-Michel following close behind us. When Abe and I can finally see Jackson, we notice that he is standing over a man's body.**

 **"Jackson?"**

 **Jackson doesn't move, he just stays crouching beside the man. Abe walks up and places the back of his hand against the side of man's neck.**

 **"Ice cold. He's been dead for at least a few days."**

 **Jackson nods, still quiet, before standing and walking over to a clearing of the edge of the woods, walking to the crest of a small hill, point down to the area below, while turning to Jean-Michel.**

 **"What is this place?"**

 **Jean-Michel walks over to Jackson, looking down at the area.**

 **"It's Fort de Chatillon."**

 **I almost rush over to the two of them look down and the area as well.**

 **"You mean the fort that was built in the 1870s from the Prussian war?"**

 **Jean-Michel looks at me a little shocked by my knowledge about Fort de Chatillon.**

 **"Yes, they tore most of it down 40 years ago."**

 **Jackson begins walking down the small ramp-like path, stopping when he gets to one of the turns and studies something on the ground. Abe calls out to him as we get closer to him.**

 **"What is it, Rafiki?"**

 **"Bear scat. Multiple tracks. Must be three of them."**

 **Chloe turns to Jean-Michel, who has a rather confused look on his face. She smirks and translates that scat means poop, speaking to Jean-Michel in French. Jean-Michel scoffs slightly**

 **"Delightful."**

 **We continue making our way down to the entrances of the tunnel that would have been used during the war when the fort was is used. Jackson and I walk over to a large hole in one of the gates. I look over some of the bars that look like they've been chewed and forced up. Jackson stands a few feet behind me.**

 **"Abe, look at this. Does that hole look big enough for a bear to get in?"**

 **"Oh. Yeah, considering it's about four times the size of Kat, I'd say that bear could walk into it standing up."**

 **I give Abe a rather fake and sarcastic laugh, before stepping into the hole and deeper into the tunnel.**

 **"Ha ha ha."**

 **Jackson and Abe follow shortly after.**

 **"Hey, wait for us."**

 **We look around the first room we go into, seeing that the tunnels go off the three directions. As we look around we hear Jean-Michel protesting outside.**

 **"Guys, I mapped this place for the city. It's a maze in there. You'll get lost. Do you at least have a gun for me?"**

 **Jackson had pulled three tranq guns out of his bag, handing one to Abe and one to myself. Chloe had been checking over her handgun, before stepping through the hole in the gate.**

 **"No."**

 **Before long Jean-Michel steps through it as well, not wanting to be left alone. As we walk through the tunnels Abe begins to hum a lullaby to himself. Jackson stops almost dead in his tracks looking over his shoulder to Abe.**

 **"Really?"**

 **"What? It comforts me."**

 **"Oh leave Abe alone, Jackson. Abe may look big and scary, but he's a teddy bear."**

 **I walk past Jackson and slightly pat his back, before his starts forward again.**

 **"And don't you forget it, Uzuri."**

 **I chuckle softly as we continue down the tunnels and before long we begin to hear a snarling noise. Of course, Jackson rushes up next to me.**

 **"Shh.."**

 **We all stop and listen as the snarling continues. Jean-Michel, who is at the back of the group with Chloe, calls out softly.**

 **"What is that?"**

 **Jackson and I glance back at him, answering simultaneously.**

 **"The bears."**

 **Abe steps up past us, continue down the tunnel.**

 **"They're snoring."**

 **Chloe pulls out her phone.**

 **"There's no signal."**

 **We continue forward, slowly and quietly. When we come into the next room we can see two bears sleeping in the open area. Jackson takes a deep breath.**

 **"There's only two of them."**

 **I look over to him.**

 **"Where's the third?"**

 **We continue forward through the next few rooms, before finding the third bear asleep. Jean-Michel begins to get panicked.**

 **"Okay, guys. That's three. Can we go now and alert Wildlife Services?"**

 **Jackson nods and turns, stepping toward Jean-Michel to lead the group out with Chloe and leaving Abe and me at the back.**

 **"Yeah, let's go."**

 **Once we get back to the room the two other bears had been in, I stop and look around. The group stops as well, as Abe places a hand on my back.**

 **"What is it?"**

 **"This is where the bears were sleeping."**

 **"Are you certain?"**

 **Abe nods, stepping to the middle of the room.**

 **"She's right. I remember the debris right there in that corner."**

 **I take a deep breath, getting very nervous.**

 **"Okay, let's get out of here. Come on."**

 **As the group turns to leave we hear a loud growl. Turning back the way we had come to see a bear on its back legs. Jackson takes a few large, but slow steps, placing himself in front of me.**

 **"Just stand your ground. All right? Don't run away, but don't let it think you're a threat."**

 **The bears roar loudly. As it does Jean-Michel turns and runs, I turn and see nothing, but his blue and white plaid shirt disappearing into the tunnels.**

 **"The other bears."**

 **"We gotta stop him."**

 **Jackson, Chloe, and I take a few steps back before turning and quickly walking away. Sadly, this meant leaving Abe, who was in between the group and the bear."**

 **Before we can catch Jean-Michel we hear a scream and a growl. When we to Jean-Michel he is in the corner of one of the open rooms. Chloe and I rush to his side, while Jackson focuses on the bear at the entrance of the room. Jackson tries to keep the bear away from the three of us, as it snarls and growls. He shoots the bear in the chest with the dart gun, but it just bounces off. Once the bear is back down on this feet it turns to Jean-Michel, Chloe, and I, setting its sights on the three of us. Jackson quickly reloads the gun and shots the bear in the backside, before quickly reloading and doing it again. Thankfully, the bear goes down. Once it's down Jackson looks over to the three of us.**

 **"You okay?"**

 **Chloe takes a deep breath, trying to calm down.**

 **"Yes."**

 **Upon hearing her answer Jackson runs back toward Abe and the other bear. As he does I stand and do the same, after showing Chloe where to apply pressure to Jean-Michel's wound. When I get to the boys, Jackson is waving his hands around, backing up into a corner.**

 **"Hey! Hey, Bear! Look right over here! Come to get me, buddy! So my friends can shoot you in the back! Right over here! Hey, Mr. Bear!"**

 **The bear roars as it nears Jackson, Abe and I shot at the bears, taking it down before it can swipe at Jackson. Abe looks at the two of us.**

 **"Nicely down."**

 **"Anytime."**

 **Jackson nods his head, but as he steps forward his legs turn into the Jell-O. I step forward to provide what help I can in holding him up.**

 **"You're adrenalin wearing off?"**

 **Jackson nods.**

 **"Yeah, but I'm okay."**

 **"Let's get out of here."**

 **Jackson and Abe nod in agreement before the three of us make our way out of the tunnels. Help Jean-Michel up and out as well. Once we get there Chloe calls for the wildlife services and emergency services. It doesn't take long for them to get to the site and take over Jean-Michel's care, which I had been attempting with the lack of supplies we had on hand. A first-aid kit is in no way equipt to take care of a bear's claw mark for a long period of time. Of course, they wish to check the rest of us out too. Thankfully, no one else is seriously injured.**

 **Once we are cleared and we make sure that Jean-Michel is going to be okay, we make our way back to the lab that Mitch had been working out of. Obviously, after what we went through, we are covered in dirt, and Chloe and I also have a fair amount of blood on us. Jamie runs up to us as we walk into the lab concerned.**

 **"Oh my god, are you guys okay."**

 **Jackson nods.**

 **"Of course, just took on three weaponized bears."**

 **Jamie looks over to Chloe and me.**

 **"Why are Chloe and Kat covered in blood."**

 **Chloe and I look down and then to each other, not really noticing the sheer amount until now.**

 **"It's not ours."**

 **"No, one of the French investigation team decided to go with us and got injured. But he's fine now."**

 **We all gathered around a small computer monitor that Mitch had set up. Abe, Jackson, and I sit on the rather low step table that, I'm sure, the bear had been placed on, as Mitch begins to explain what's going on.**

 **"This is the DNA profile of our bear from the lab. And this is the same bear's DNA six years ago when it was first tagged."**

 **I lean forward, noticing a major difference in the two strands.**

 **"It changed."**

 **"Mm-hmm."**

 **"Because of the mother cell?"**

 **"Uh, yes and no."**

 **Jamie looks between Mitch and me.**

 **"What does that mean?"**

 **Mitch sighs.**

 **"Think of it this way. None of the earth's creatures are born perfect right? We all have genetic anomalies. Be it a birthmark, double jointed wrists, webbed toes. But the anomalies that become the norm are the one that is adaptive. That is more useful for survival. Like opposable thumbs."**

 **Chloe shakes her head.**

 **"What does it have to do with animals?"**

 **I clear my throat, continuing Mitch's thought.**

 **"The traits we've seen… the bear's endoskeleton, the bats flying abnormally high, lions seemingly communication over long distances. They all make their species more capable of survival. Stronger, better."**

 **"And what I think… just like our ancestors developed opposable thumbs, I think the Mother Cell is just accelerating these mutations in the animal kingdom that we would see occur naturally, but not for another… several generations."**

 **"Maybe a couple hundred years from now, depending on how long it takes us to screw up the planet."**

 **"But we're seeing it now because of the Mother Cell. But here's the good news… if the Mother Cell can make a naturally occurring situation worse… maybe it can do the opposite."**

 **Jackson shakes his head.**

 **"But what's the opposite? The Mother Cell can cure the animals?"**

 **"Yes, I believe so. It'll take me awhile to figure out how, but it should be possible."**


	17. Fairy Ride

Chapter Seventeen

Fairy Ride

While I am not sure why we are still traveling while Jamie is on the run from the law, we end up on a plane to Massachusetts. Supposedly, a Fishman saw thousands of rats jumping off of a cargo ship and then swimming to the shore of Pender Island. When local authorities boarded the vessel, they found the crew dead, their bodies in a horrible condition, suggesting they had been attacked by the rats. So, naturally, we were sent in to investigate. As we board a fairy to start making our way to Pender Island, Jamie stays behind for a moment or two, trying to either get Mitch to come with us or let her go with him. She has been almost attached to Mitch lately for some reason, it's actually kind of cute.

While she talks to Mitch, Abe, Chloe, Jackson and I make our way to the front of the ship. Jackson walks up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist, as I look out over the beautiful blue water.

"What are you thinking about?"

I place my hands on his forearms, as he rests his head on my shoulder.

"That this reminds me of the time we went to Cape Town a few years ago."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."

The two of us take a deep breath looking out over the water, remembering the week we had spent in Cape Town when I was feeling homesick for the city. Before long we hear Abe calling out to us.

"Are you two talking about Cape Town and left me behind?"

Jackson stands up straight, his arms still around my waist.

"You had the flu Abe, what were we supposed to do?"

As the fairy takes off, Jamie joins us, and Jackson and I separate from each other and we all sit on the benches near us. Jamie, doesn't not, I don't know how but she is pacing on the deck.

"How did a few rats become thousands on the course of a trip across the Atlantic?"

I shrug my shoulders.

"Well, if Mitch is right, and the Mother Cell is an accelerant, it may be, by being exposed to it in a contained environment, it accelerated the reproductive nature of the rats."

Abe sighs.

"Or we could be seeing it in rats first because they have a short gestation period. What if this is just the beginning?"

Jackson nods.

"We could be facing a population explosion in the entire animal kingdom."

Abe shakes his head.

"A swarm of rats is one thing, but a swarm of lions, tigers, alligators."

Jamie stops in her tracks.

"How would we even begin to fight back against something like that?"

Jackson shrugs.

"Okay, first things first. We have to warn the people on Pender Island."

"I'm pretty sure they'd be aware."

Chloe shakes her head.

"Aside from a fisherman, no one has reported any rats at all."

"None? That doesn't make any sense."

I take a deep breath.

"What has made sense since this whole thing began?"

Jackson looks up among the group.

"We need to capture a male and a female. It's the only way to see how the Mother Cell affects the reproductive behavior."

Jamie cringes.

"So we're going on a rat hunt?"

"What's the matter, Rafiki?"

Jackson shakes his head.

"The men that died on that cargo ship were eaten by rats. It's been proven that rats that taste human blood begin to crave it."

Jamie cringes again.

"Well… that's just awesome."

The groups fall quiet before Jackson stands and walks over to the railing away from us. After a few minutes, I stand and walk over to him.

"Is something else is on your mind?"

Jackson nods, looking out to the island as we approach the coastline.

"We vacationed there… when I was a kid."

"Pender Island?"

"Before my dad got bad. He'd rent a shack on the beach every summer, on the side of the island that hadn't been built up yet. Have a big clambake, invite all the neighbors."

"See, you still have some good memories of your father."

"Sure, but the last really good ones took place on that island… which appears to have been overrun with bloodthirsty rats."


	18. Wilson Hotel

Chapter Eighteen

Wilson Hotel

Once we arrived on Pender Island we begin looking for the sheriff, of course, we make it a point to keep Jamie way from the sheriff and any other law enforcement. Abe, Jamie, and I sit at a small outdoor cafe in the town square, while Chloe and Jackson go and talk to the Sheriff, since we were told by the station that she'd be working the square that afternoon. Judging from their body language, Jackson knew her before this, probably a childhood friend. Jamie looks over her phone worried.

"I've sent Mitch five text messages asking if he's arrived at Harvard yet. No reply. Have either of you heard from him?"

I shake my head and look over to Abe.

"No, but I haven't reached out to him yet. I have patience."

Jamie sighs.

"We'll, I don't. What's taking them so long? Should we go over there?"

She points over to Jackson, Chloe, and the Sheriff. As she does I shake my head.

"No, we wait here, as discussed. At this point, you and any representative of the law is a bad idea."

"I'm not a fugitive, Kat."

Abe shakes his.

"Not yet. And it would be nice to keep it that way."

As we look over to Chloe and Jackson, they are rushing over to us. Once they are there, Jackson puts his hands on the back of my chair and Chloe sits in the open chair.

"The Wilson Hotel. That's where we have to go. It's huge. If it's deserted, it would make the perfect breeding ground for the rats, once the ship was no longer viable."

"Then let's go."

Us at the table jump up before the five of us quickly head to the car. I'd say run, but we are trying not to draw too much attention to ourselves. When we all pile into the car, we head off to the Wilson Hotel, Jackson remembers where the hotel is. Once we get there, we have a problem getting into the hotel, since it is closed down for renovations, it is locked up. Jackson and I watch as Abe, our chief lock picker, is having a problem with the lock.

"Come on, you son of a…"

"You used to be good at this."

"Got it."

Abe finally gets the door open. As Jackson chuckles.

"37 seconds. You're slowing down."

"It's the salt air. Make the lock stick."

"Well. okay, then."

Once we are in the main room I try to turn the lights on, but the switch doesn't work.

"Guess they're not finished with the wiring."

"I'll have a look for a circuit panel. See if I can get some light."

Abe starts door hall doorway, however, before he can leave, Chloe calls out to us.

"Hey, the exterminator left some traps. Look."

Abe is the first over to her since he is the closest.

"It hasn't been touched."

I look around and notice another one near the second hall doorway in the room.

"Hey, neither has this one."

"Those traps are no good to us because they are store-bought junk intended to kill the rats. Unlike what we've brought, which should merely trap them, hopefully, become a honeymoon suite for a male and female for Mitch and Kat to observe."

Jamie sighs.

"The fact that it's come to this, searching for killer rats in an abandoned hotel. I should have gone to college."

I glance over at her.

"I thought you did go to college."

"I should have gone to a better college."

Jackson shakes his head.

"Well, happy hunting. Kat and I will check the traps on the upper floors, you guys look down here."

Abe, Chloe, and Jamie go to look for the circuit panel and checking the traps, while Jackson and I head upstairs.

"To think, I was planning on bringing you and our kids here someday."

"Aww… you had already started planning family vacations?"

"Of course, this was a great place from my childhood. I'd want it to be part of my kids' lives."

I smile softly at him as he steps to me and places his hands on my hips, kissing me softly.

"What do you think of?"

"You know names, the first day of school, taking trips with the kids onto the plans to see the animals, teaching them about all the animals in Africa."

Jackson smiles and places his forehead against mine before we continue on before too long we hear scurrying and squeaking. I look around to hall, the sound is coming from inside the walls.

"It sounds like there are hundreds of them."

The scurrying continues and grows louder.

"Or thousands of them."

As the scurrying and the squeaking continues, we begin to hear clicking.

"Tell me that is not what I think it is."

"Yeah, they're bruxing."

"They're sharpening their fucking teeth… Great…"

The bruxing and squeaking continues. Before long Abe, Chloe, and Jaime find us upstairs. Jackson and I had set some of the traps upstairs and they had done the same downstairs, with a bit more success. Abe walks up to us holding a game back.

"We got one. A male."

I nod.

"Great, now all we need is a female."

Jamie sighs.

"At the risk of sounding overly girly, this is all really, really… really disgusting."

Jackson gets on his phone and makes a phone call.

"Sheriff Bowman. The Wilson is literally crawling with rats. We can hear them in the walls. Yes, there are thousands of rats inside. You have to at least evacuate all the nearby homes. No, no, don't, don't come here. Please, you have to keep people away from here. Becky! Damn it, she hung up."

I shake my head, before turning myself slightly.

"Come on, the sooner we find a female rat, the sooner we get out of here."

As we begin to check the traps for another rat, we hear the elevator bell ding. Jackson turns toward the elevator and takes a step.

"That must be Becky."

As the elevator door opens hundreds of rats poor out of it.

"Through here!"

"Move, move, move!"

As the rat begin flooding toward us, Jackson grabs me and dives through a door to the stairwell. Once the door is closed I look around and notice Chloe is missing.

"Where's Chloe?"

Jamie turns toward the door.

"Oh, my god."

Jackson pulls out his phone and tries to call Chloe.

"She's not answering her phone."

Jamie and I look at each other. Jamie shakes her head.

"She'll be okay. Chloe's a bad-ass, right?"

I nod to Jamie before the boys start up the stairs to the next level. Jamie and I follow behind them. When we get up the next level we hear some muffled squeaking. Jackson looks over to us.

"Do you hear that?"

He looks over to Abe.

"It's coming from your game bag."

Abe hands Jackson his game back when I step over to him and look over his shoulder and look into the bag, seeing pups in the bag.

"I thought you said that was a male rat."

"It is male, trust me."

Jamie shakes her head.

"Well, how could a male rat give birth."

Abe shrugs.

"I don't know. Some species reproduce asexually. Insects, fish, reptiles, but not rats. No mammals, for that matter."

I look over Jackson's shoulder into the bag again.

"Hold on, they're all male."

Jackson looks down into the bag again.

"She's right."

Abe looks over at us, confused.

"Are you sure."

Jackson holds out the bag to him.

"You want to count rodent penises, be our guest."

"I'll take your word for it. But how can that be?"

"It is statistically unheard of for a standardized litter to be comprised of entirely one sex. But I suppose it's not impossible, but it's highly unlikely."

I sigh softly.

"Okay, animals reproduce to ensure the survival of their species, right? But what if that's changing? Think about the mutations we've seen in the other animals. The lions communicating over great distances, the bears, and their endoskeleton, the bats, the rats, the whole thing. What is these mutations are not about the survival of one species, but the destruction of another?"

Jamie looks at me confused.

"You mean us?"

I nod.

"We gotta find Chloe."

Before we can start off Jackson stops, deep in thought.

"What is it, Jackson?"

"Let's assume, for a minute, that the cargo ship loaded with Reiden products accelerated the reproduction of the few rats on board. Okay, then once the ship got close and was no longer safe, they had to find another viable option."

Abe nods.

"This abandoned hotel."

Before Jackson can move on to his next point, we hear the baby rats squeaking and I step forward toward him.

"They don't sound right. They're suffering." 

Jackson nods, looking into the bag.

"I think they're dehydrated."

Abe nods.

"It's no wonder, male rats can't nurse."

I shrug.

"Well, up until ten minutes ago, they couldn't give birth, either."

Jackson shakes his head.

"Well, something's nursing the pups. I mean, given how quickly the rats are multiplying, they have to be feeding. There's got to be females around somewhere. And they must be big."

Jamie steps toward us.

"Big? Why Big?"

I look over to her.

"To feed all these pups."

"Wait, are you… are you guys saying that there is some kind of rat queens?"

Abe sighs.

"If there are, we have to find them."

Jamie nods.

"How about you guys go and find your rat queen and I go and find Chloe."

"Jamie, do you really want to tb\he in this place alone? How about we stick together and find them both, huh?"

We start looking around the two upper floors, trying to find Chloe or the rats nest. Jamie and I looked over one part of the third floor, Jackson and Abe looked over the other.

"Did you girls find anything?"

I shake my head.

"No, but maybe if we are looking for one big queen rat, we should be looking for one big nest."

"Something tells me you already know where such an are might be."

Jamie looks at me concerned.

I nod.

"I think I do."

"Well, being the wise ones we are, we'll do our best to avoid such an area."

Jackson shakes his head.

"We shall not."

We head up to the attic area of the hotel and look around some of the room in the top level. Abe sighs softly.

"Perhaps you were wrong."

Just as he says this we hear squeaking and squealing. Jackson sighs.

"I'm afraid not."

As we come to the last door in the attic around, the squeaking and squealing get louder. When we open the door, we are met with a huge room, full of rats.

"Dear lord!"

"Oh, my god."

Abe looks over at us.

"I think we're all agreed that these creatures need to be destroyed. Any suggestions on how to do that?"

"I don't know, but I think we have a bigger problem."

Jackson and I look over to see five to six rats on the shelving next to us. I take a light grip on Jackson's arm.

"What do we do?"

Just then we hear Chloe call out to us.

"Guys! Move out of the way."

The four of us more to one side of the room, as Chloe steps in with a homemade flamethrower on her back. As she begins to turn the flames on some of the rats Jackson calls out.

"Queens! Get the queens!"

"Get out of here!" 

Jackson and Abe hurry Jamie and I out of the hotel, Chloe following behind us. When we get outside there is an ambulance, firetrucks, and police cars. We are checked over by the EMT's which as this point is as routine as taking a shower or boarding a plane. Jackson had just gotten finished with the EMT's and so had I when sheriff Bowman comes up to us.

"Fire got them all."

Jackson nods.

"Any pups that survive, they won't last long. Not without the females."

"I called an off-island exterminator, just to be safe."

"That's a good idea. Oh, Becky, this is my fiance Katherine. Katherine this is my childhood friend Becky."

I smile at her and extend a hand.

"It's nice to meet you."

"It's very nice to meet you too. It's nice to meet the women who managed to tie Jackson down."

The three of us share a laugh.

"But you two look really happy."

We nod and look to each other. Becky clears her throat.

"But there's something more to it, isn't there? Whatever it is you guys are looking into?"

"There might be."

"Well, good luck and be safe, and don't wait another ten years to come back here. This island is still great. When it's rat-free."

Jackson nods.

"Hey, Becky, I need to apologize."

"For what?"

"For disappearing, back then. And never explaining why."

"You didn't have to explain, I knew. Everyone knew what… was going on with your father."

"Right…"

"Besides… we were 12."

Becky smiles and walks off after the two of them share a laugh. I stand to walk back up beside Jackson.

"You had good taste when you were 12."

"I like to think I have good taste now."

Jackson turns and wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me close.

"I think your taste is pretty decent."


	19. Delavane

Chapter Nineteen

Delavane

Once we got everything we needed from Pender Island, we catch the next ferry back to the mainland. Sadly, that wasn't until the next morning, so we found a motel to stay at on Pender. Chloe and Jamie in one room, Abe, Jackson, and I in another. After being in a hotel full of rats, I am all too happy to be able to take a shower. When I step back out into the main room I am in the pjs we had bought from a nearby store, drying my hair.

"God those little things make my skin crawl."

Jackson is by the nightstand taking off his watch and taking the things out of his pockets.

"What I thought you loved rats."

"Not when there are that many of them and not when they are trying to kill us."

Abe chuckles.

"Kat is right. One or two are cute, but hundreds of them, not so much."

I point over to Abe before I step forward I hear something move behind me. Of course, after being in a hotel full of rats I am a little jumpy, so I jump and turn toward the noise, seeing that I had hit one of the hangers when I took the towel out of my hair and it had fallen. Jackson laughs and walks over to me.

"It's okay. I promise this is a nice, rat feel motel."

I take a deep breath and nod before Jackson kisses my forehead and heads into the bathroom. The next morning as we head back to the mainland meeting Mitch in a plaza outside of some office buildings. When we get there he is still on a low stone wall.

"Hey guys, how was Pender Island?"

Jamie is all too happy to see Mitch since she is all smiles.

"Good, we had a run in with a few hundred rats."

"A few hundred rats? That's interesting."

"Yeah, how did your meeting a Harvard go?"

Mitch tilts his head to the side and scratches hit the back of this head.

"About that... I didn't actually go to Harvard. That was never my plan. The plan was for me to meet with the CEO of Reiden, to trade the Mother Cell for medication from Clementine."

The group goes quiet, and the smile fades from Jamie's face. You can almost feel the rage pour off of each of us. The air is heavy and the sun even seems to dim. Jamie shakes her head and takes a deep breath.

"Oh, my God, you bastard."

"It was for my daughter."

"Even so."

"You gonna tell me if you could've saved your mother, you wouldn't have done the same?"

Jamie falls quiet and I step toward Mitch.

"Do not bring Jamie's mother into this. This was you."

Chloe sighs, clearing her throat.

"So, you did it? You traded the Mother Cell for the medicine."

"No, I didn't."

Jackson shakes his head.

"But you almost did."

"Yeah, I almost did. For my daughter."

"We're here trying to do this, trying to come up with a solution for everything, and you would, you would just give that away?"

"Look, while I'm not trying to minimize any of it, you're all focusing on the wrong guy right now. Okay? Delavane is not who we think he is."

Chloe shakes her head.

"How can you be so sure? Maybe he had a good reason to be there."

"Oh get serious. I saw his face, trust me."

Jackson chuckles and shakes his head again.

"You're asking us to trust you?"

"I'm asking you to call my character into question at a later date. Delavane was not at Reiden because it was Bring Your Shadowy Interpol Agent to the Office Day. He was there because he works there."

Chloe crosses her arms.

"Did we see you?"

Mitch nods, Chloe shakes her head.

"This is bad."

I sigh.

"You're saying... the company that put us together is the same company that we're trying to take down."

"It appears that way."

"But why? Why would Delavane put us together if there was even a chance of us uncovering the truth?"

Just then Chloe's phone rings and she answers, stepping away from the group, as Jackson crosses his arms.

"What else, Mitch?"

"What else what?"

"What else are you lying to us about?"

Jamie takes a deep breath.

"Okay. The Mother Cell... can we really use it to make a cure?"

Mitch nods.

"Yes, theoretically, it can be used to reverse the mutation."

I shake my head.

"Theoretically?"

"I believe that if we introduce the Mother Cell into the DNA of a mutated animal, we could possibly synthesize a cure. In order to do that, we need an animal who has mutated and has not been exposed to the Mother Cell."

Abe steps forward.

"Does such an animal even exist? Every animal we've come into contact with has been mutated because of Reiden."

Jackson nods.

"Even if there is, how would he possibly find it? There are infected animals on every continent."

Mitch sighs.

"I know It's like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles. In every country on Earth. But without that needle, we don't have a cure."

Chloe walks back to the group.

"We have to go. That was my colleague at the PGSE. The FBI has issued a warrant for my arrest. Jamie's too."

Jamie scoffs.

"Ben Shafer. Oh, my God, Chloe, I'm so sorry."

"There's nothing to apologize for. It's only a matter of time before they connect the rest of you."

I shake my head.

"Hey, hold on. Go where? If the FBI is after us if Delavane works for Reiden, where are we gonna go?"

Mitch nods, standing.

"Yeah, I don't speak spy, but... pretty much feels like game over."

We make a plan to get out of the country, the problem is we don't know how to, or where we are going to go. But we do know that we need to fall off the grid, so we find our way to a cell phone store. Five of us wait outside, while Abe goes inside. As we stand and wait, Jamie becomes very nervous.

"Maybe we shouldn't be standing around in a clump like this."

As she makes his comment Abe comes out of the store.

"Like the lady said, if they're going to treat us like criminals, we need to act like criminals. Everybody gets one."

Abe starts to hand out cell phones as we walk down the street and Chloe clears her throat.

"From now on, we pay cash for everything. And no more contact with family and friends."

Mitch shakes his head.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen. Not for me, anyway. 'Cause, I got to get these meds to Clem. and FBI or not, I'm bringing 'em to her."

Jackson stops and shakes his head, as the group walks past him.

"Alright, guys, stop, just stop. This isn't gonna work, okay? We can't just be reactive to this thing. We gotta get out in front of it. Now, we've been together a couple months as a team, we're doing pretty good, so now... now we got to save our own asses, and we gotta save the world."

"It's a bit dramatic, but well said."

Chloe nods.

"Agreed. What's the plan?"

Jackson sighs.

"Alright, first off, it's time to go public with this thing. Now, we need a more official outlet than your blog, Jamie, but we obviously can't risk walking into a news station, so who do you know? Do you know someone that you can contact?"

Jamie nods.

"Yeah."

"Okay, Abe, take Mitch and Kat in the car and go get those meds to Clementine."

"Okay."

I nod.

"You got it."

"Kat make sure those two don't kill each other."

I chuckle softly as I step toward Jackson.

"You got it."

Jackson and I share a quick kiss before the boys and I head back to the car. When we get there Abe switches out the license plan. I'm not sure where he found another one, but he did. Mitch is on the phone with his ex-wife.

"Yeah, I'll meet you at the house. Anything comes up, just call me on this number. Yeah, I had to change phones. It's a long story. Okay. Bye."

"We're going to your ex's house?"

I poke my head out of the car door since I am sitting in the car.

"Maybe we should go somewhere that the police wouldn't think of, just in case."

"Yeah, it might be the worst idea I've ever had. But... thanks for coming with me."

Abe stands.

"We aren't doing this for you. We are doing this for your daughter."

Mitch nods.

"Yeah, I know what I did was wrong. If it's gonna make you two feel better, take a swing at me. Seriously, go ahead."

Abe chuckles.

"Believe me, that's the last thing you want right now. I know that Katherine would knock you into next week, do you really wanna know what would happen if I were to hit you?"

I shake my head and laugh softly. Before the boys walk back to the front of the car a crow lands in the alley and are making a horrible squawking noise.

"That's not normal, is it?"

Mitch stares at the bird in almost disbelief.

"I'd say that's pretty far from normal."


	20. The Birds

Chapter Twenty

The Birds

Abe, Mitch, and I hop into the SUV and head to Mitch's ex's house. I am looking through the previous new, trying to find anything that could explain the bird's odd noise.

"Here! A couple of months ago in Cape Town, the crew of a fishing trawler reported how a flock of razorbills attacked their boat. People were convinced they were after their haul of squid. But the captain was convinced they were after the crew. He described the sound the razorbills made as they circled overhead like cicadas."

Abe is in the driver seat in front of me.

"So this has happened before."

Mitch shrugs his shoulders.

"But with one try of the bird."

"It's something."

I sigh softly.

"I hope things are going well for the others."

"I'm sure they're fine, Uzuri."

Jackson and Chloe had gone to see Delavane and see if they could get any information from him about him working for Reiden and Jamie went to see if she could convince one of us friends to publish a story about the animals in a mainstream paper. While Abe, Mitch, and I went to give the medicine Mitch had gotten to Clementine, his nine-year-old daughter. When we get to the house Mitch looks around a little confused.

"Her car's not here."

We get out of the car and Mitch heads up to knock on the door, before rattling the doorknob. Abe walks up behind him.

"I don't think it's a good idea for us to linger."

I nod.

"Yeah, I second that. Who knows how long it'll be before there's a warrant out of all of us."

Mitch turns from the door and slowly makes his way down the porch, looking around at the plants.

"Back when Audra and I were together, she had an amazing ability to lock herself out of the house. Twice in one day, if you can believe that. So we developed a system of hiding a spare key."

Mitch lifts one of the plants in a pot up and pulls out a spare key. Before he can head back up the stairs of the porch to open the door we hear the same squawking noise that we had heard before. The three of us look up to the power line and see a line of birds.

"That's the same noise we heard from the sparrows."

"Yeah, but those aren't sparrows."

I shake my head and glance back to Mitch.

"It's like they're talking to each other. Don't birds have a universal warning call?"

Mitch nods.

"Yeah, but nothing resembling a common language."

As we step back to the truck we hear dogs beginning to bark.

"Is it just me, or…"

Just then Mitch's phone goes off.

"Audra, where are you? I can barely hear you. You're… at the park? Audra? Audra! Audra, tell me what's going on." Audra?! Damn it."

Mitch looks between Abe and I.

"What happened?"

"Let's go."

Without questioning further the three of us jump into the car and Abe drives off to one of the parks in the area.

"She said they're at the park. The birds are attacking."

"Do you know which park?"

"Yes."

I shake my head and lean forward, almost putting my head between the boys.

"We can't do anything for them if we don't know how to get rid of the birds."

"She's right, Mitch. What if we use sound to repel the birds? Like the oscillator, you built in Rio."

Mitch shakes his head.

"Yeah, maybe that would work, but we don't have an oscillator. And even if we did, we don't have time for a maybe."

"So what's another opinion."

Mitch thinks for a moment before nodding.

"I got something. I was here last year. In Boston for a conference. And there was a Dalmatian outside our hotel. Got hit by a motorcycle. I was there, I saved the dog's life. Its names was uh, uh… Rufus! His owners were very grateful."

I sigh softly.

"Mitch! Point!"

"Dalmatian, firehouse dog!"

"Mitch you're a genius!"

Abe and I finally understand what Mitch was going on about and we head to the park while Mitch calls the fire station.

"Hey, it's Mitch Morgan. Yeah, the doctor who helped Rufus. Yeah, listen I need you guys to get a truck and meet me at the park on south and 3rd. There are birds attacking people."

With that Mitch hangs up the phone and we head to the park. By the time we get there, two firetrucks are already here and we bail out of the truck. Abe runs over to help the firemen with the hose and Mitch and I go in to help people out of the play structures, as the water rapils the birds. Once everyone is out of the play structure and being check up first responders, Abe and I walk over to Mitch, who is talking to a blonde woman and little girl. When we walk up to them Mitch turns to us and Abe and I smile to greet them.

"Hello, you must be Audra."

Audra nods as she and I shake hands before I turn to Clementine.

"And you must be the famous Clementine. I'm Katherine, but you can call me Kat."

Clementine smiles.

"You can call me Clem."

I nod and smile to her, as Mitch looks over the four of us.

"We should head back to the house. Best to be indoors after all of this."

I nod.

"Yeah, I'll call the others and let them know where we are. If that's alright with you Audra."

"Of course, while Mitch hasn't told me a lot it seems like you all are trying to save the world from these animals so please if you need to use my house as a meeting point, do it."

I nod and text Jackson the address, before long he calls me."

"Hey."

"Hey, Kat. What's up, honey?"

Jackson sounds out of breath.

"Jackson, what's wrong? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine. We just uh… had a run in with one of Shafter's coworkers. He wasn't happy about what happened. But we are okay, I promise."

"We are going to meet at Mitch's ex-wife's place. That's the address I sent you."

"Okay, we'll meet you there soon."

Jackson and I hang up, as the group head back to the cars and back to Audra's place. It isn't long after we get to Audra's that the others arrive as well. When they do Jamie is lowering her phone from her ear.

"More bad news. Wilson's out. His executive editor called Reiden to follow up."

Jackson turns to her.

"And let me guess… five minutes later, their lawyers were slapped with a cease and desist by the Reiden legal team."

Jamie nods and I step up behind Jackson.

"They're good, I'll give them that."

"Maybe we should just turn ourselves in."

"What good would it be if you and Chloe are behind bars?"

"At least we could tell our story."

Jackson shakes his head, moving to sit in a chair beside the window.

"What… to a roomful of cops who want to try you for murdering a federal agent?"

"Okay, so what are we gonna do? We can't go to the press. We can't go to the authorities."

I nod.

"Yeah, the only people who can help us are in this house right now."

Before I can continue my statement, we hear Chloe call out from the other room.

"Hey, guys."

When we get into the room we see a report on the bird attacks.

"There was also a separate bird attack at Bowler Park in Brighton. Three adults were killed; 16 others were injured, including four children. City and state officials are currently investigating whether the three attacks are related. Residents are being asked to use caution when outdoors."

I sigh as Jackson turns off the tv.

"It's getting bigger."

"The animals are getting more aggressive. If it keeps progressing like this, it won't matter what we decide to do, because by then, it will be too late. We have to do something now."

"I agree. But what?"

I shake my head and think for a minute.

"Wait. Jackson, do you remember all those pictures we took of the walls in your dad's compound?"

"Yeah, of course."

"There was one page we found that had a list of traits. Felidae, Carnivora, all the big cat taxonomies. More specifically, leopards."

"Yeah, I remember."

"There may be a reason for that."

I turn to Mitch who is standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"What if Robert Oz was searching for a cure, too? What if that's our needle?"

Mitch looks at me a little shocked for a moment.

"Leopards?"

"Have we ruled it out yet?" 

"Okay, leopards are found in India, the Arabian Peninsula, the Himalayan foothills, sub-Saharan Africa…"

Jackson stands.

"But we've ruled out most of those areas already."

Chloe nods, looking over the map she and Jamie had laid on the table.

"Yeah, but there are some areas in Africa where there's no reported Reiden activity."

Jamie looks over her laptop.

"Okay, Last year, six people killed in a small village near the Zambezi River. Zambia, Africa, 13 injured."

Jackson hands me the small leather-bound log book.

"Double check, make sure we didn't miss anything."

I nod and look over the book, as Jamie continues reading from her laptop.

"Okay, then, six months ago, five separate leopards attacks in villages along a 20-mile stretch of the Luangwa Valley. And… Zambia's largest agricultural company is owned by one of Reiden's biggest critics."

Abe steps forward and to my side.

"That would explain why Reiden products aren't being used there."

I look up from the book.

"Nothing. No mention of Zambia anywhere."

Mitch chuckles.

"I think we just found our needle."

"Let's go!"

Quickly and swiftly the group gathers our few things and leave Audra's house. Of course, after thanking her for letting us meet there and using it as our little conference space for a little while. We all pile into the three-row SUV, Abe, Mitch, and I had been driving around before we heading off.

Jamie sighs.

"I don't want to be a buzzkill, but it's about 7,000 miles to Zambia."

I nod,

"She's right, it's gonna take more than a police scanner and some dirt roads to get us there."

Mitch takes a deep breath.

"Yeah, you two are right… Don't be buzzkills. One thing at a time."

Chloe rolls down the window and we can hear the birds squawking.

"Do you guys hear that."

Mitch sighs.

"Yeah. we've been hearing it all day. Different species of birds, all making the exact same noise."

I nod.

"Mitch thinks the birds are developing a common tongue."

Jamie shakes her head.

"Wait. You think the Eagles can talk to the finches."

"Can talk to the skua, and talk to the black-headed grosbeak. There are maybe 300 billion birds in the world. Imagine if they could all talk to each other."

"If that's true, they could send a message around the world and back."

I nod and sigh softly, leaning back into the sit.

"Let's just figure out a way to get to Zambia… Quick…"


	21. Ray

Chapter Twenty-One

Ray

Are we leave Audra's house we make our way to Florida and check into a hotel. Since we no longer have a sponsor we are all crammed into two rooms. We need to figure out a way to now get Chloe out to the country by getting her a fake I.D.

"What about the guy who made Jamie's fake I.D.?"

"No, with the authorities looking for Jamie and I, we can't risk it."

"If we weren't in such a hurry, we could take a freighter."

Jackson nods.

"Yeah, I would give anything for a cruise to Africa right about now."

As we talk about different ways to help get Chloe and Jamie out of the country we hear Abe call out from the other room.

"Hey, guys… Listen to this."

When we get into the other room and see a CDC agent speaking to a new host.

"Afraid, no. Cautious, perhaps. The CDC is, however, looking into the matter."

"We've heard enough reports about aberrant animal behavior that we're considering the possibility of a virus."

"It's not a virus."

"What can the people at home do?"

"If you notice any odd behavior in your pet, see your local veterinarian."

I sigh softly and shake my head, sitting on the bed.

"Well, that was helpful."

Jamie nods and sighs.

"So... I got a question. If we keep driving south, straight through Florida, eventually we're gonna run out of Terra firma."

Jackson claps his hands.

"That's it. Let's go to Clearwater."

Mitch, who has been leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, sighs softly shaking his head.

"Why? Never in the course of human events has Clearwater, Florida ever been the solution to anything."

"Well, today it is. In Clearwater, there is a way to get back to Africa."

"What's in Clearwater?"

Abe and I look up to each other, realizing Jackson's plan.

"Oh, no."

"You're thinking about Ray, aren't you?"

Jackson nods.

"Yes, I am."

"No, not that. Not Ray."

I stand, shaking my head and hands in protest.

"Who's Ray?"

Abe sighs.

"He's a nightmare."

The next morning Abe, Jackson, and I head out to Clearwater, which is only a little ways away from the town we had stopped in. When we get to the dock where Ray should be he is fighting with a few fishermen.

"Come on, Baggo. I think there's been a misunderstanding… Can you at least take off the high school ring, sport? I know how proud you are that you have made it as far as high school."

Abe calls out to the men as they beat on Ray.

"Alright guys, that's enough."

Ray looks over, as one of the men has him by the shirt collar and he's on his knees.

"All the way from Africa to defend my honor!"

I sigh softly.

"I see you're still as popular as ever, Ray."

"Meet my pals, David and Goliath. Bet you didn't know they reconciled and now they wander the globe doing the good work."

One of the men shakes his head.

"This gotta stop, Ray. Gotta stop now."

"Yeah, yeah."

I sigh softly and crossing my arms.

"I know he probably deserves this, but what did he do?"

"Released 200 pounds of caught shrimp from our holds and that's the fourth time this month he's done it."

Ray stumbles to his feet.

"Tell me something. You know what 'bycatch' is, fellas? Sharks, sea turtles, seals, and other 'non-target' fish that end up in these bastards' nets, only to be tossed overboard because they ain't shrimp."

"It's our living! And your friend here is trying to ruin it."

Abe takes a deep breath.

"He's not our friend."

"This ain't over, Ray. I'll see you soon."

Ray nods and spits out some blood as the men walk away and back to their boats.

"Gotta say, I was surprised to hear from you. Figured you were still sore about Nairobi."

I tilt my head to the side slightly and clench my jaw.

"You almost got them killed in Nairobi. Sore doesn't even begin to cover it."

"Hell, those poachers were bad men. And your boys were on the right side of right."

"Ray, the right side of right doesn't mean anything if they're dead."

"Well, I gotta say I'm happy to see you again too Kat."

Jackson takes a deep breath crossing his arms as well.

"Are you still making that Africa run, Ray?"

"Yeah, now and again."

"We need to get out of the country. Six of us. Off the books, under the radar."

"How soon do you need to leave?"

"As soon as possible."

"That'll cost you."

"How much?"

"Much more than you've got if you're showing up on my doorstep. Since I'm the last resort for you two boy scouts and the young gentlemen killer. So it will cost you, much much more. Or maybe nothing at all."

"What's that mean?"

"My associates and I are doing a little something-something tonight. We could use the manpower."

I sigh.

"Is what you're doing against the law?"

"Not if you're a zebra in a cage."

"No, no way."

"Suit yourself."

Jackson sighs.

"And if we do help you?"

"Then it's simple. You wash my back, and I fly yours the hell out of the country one step ahead of whoever it is that's chasing you."

"What is it that you and your associates are doing?"

"We're breaking into Clearwater Zoo. To liberate the animals."

"Of course you are."

Abe and I are all too happy to get away from Abe. You see Ray has a way of pulling Jackson into all kinds of trouble. That's how Nairobi came about. Jackson and Ray went in to handle some poachers. What Ray hadn't told anyone was that he had been a throne in the paw of those guys for months and they were ready for him when he came around again. Abe ended up going in and had to save the two of them. When we get back to the hotel and try to explain this all to others they are all are rather confused by the idea of trusting someone like Ray.

"Okay, so who's this friend of yours?"

Abe sighs.

"He is not our friend."

I take a deep breath.

"He's an ex-Marine, an animal rights activist, ad he spends a lot of time in Africa, interfering with poachers."

Jackson nods.

"That's how we met him."

"He's crazy."

"He's not crazy. He's… He's just… not uncrazy."

"His group call themselves the Free Animal Rights Militia. F.A.R.M."

Mitch clears this throat.

"I've dealt with these kinds of people before. They're zealots. Don't know the first thing about animal welfare."

Jamie scoffs.

"Well, not to mention some of us are already wanted by the police."

"Well, I agree, but we gotta get out of here, and we gotta get out of here fast. But Ray… Ray can be a bit of a loose cannon."

Jackson sighs.

"Maybe more than a bit. But everything he has ever done has been for the animals."

Abe nods.

"Look, I know desperate times require desperate measures… but this isn't desperate… This is reckless."

I shake my head.

"I understand your reservations, Abe, but I'm with Jackson. I don't really think we have a better option."

"This is a terrible idea."

Mitch sighs.

"I'm gotta say, I'm with Abe… meaning I'm anti-doing this thing with these… losers. But… I'm just gonna put this out there: we could probably get an electroporator from that zoo. Clearwater Zoo has a pathology lab, which means they most likely have one."

"Even so…"

"Guys…"

I point to the tv screen in the room, which is showing all of our photos and names.

"The prime suspects in the murder of FBI Special Agent Ben Shafer. Jackson Oz, Chloe Tousignant, Abraham Kenyatta, Mitchell Morgan, and Katherine Smith. These five people are all possible accomplices in Agen Shafer's murder. We're asking anyone who has seen them or who has any information concerning their whereabouts, to please step forward and contact us on our special hotline."

"Well, all of our names and faces are out there now. The chances of us getting recognized… getting caught… just quadrupled."

Chloe sighs shaking her head.

"Your friend is truly the only hope we've got."

Abe sighs again softly.

"He is not our friend."


	22. The Plan

With no way out of the country now other than to help Ray and get a ride with them, we head to a warehouse. Ray had texted Jackson the address to it and knew we had no other options.

"All right, so we've hit up a couple of zoos before. We found what works best for us is two-pronged assault, as four of us are gonna go in and four of us in here." Ray explains the plan to us as we are all gathered around a small table. "Toss in a couple of flash-bangs, and the rent-a-cops won't know what hit 'em."

I shake my head and lean forward onto the table. "Flash-bangs? Seriously?"

Mitch clears his throat and shrugs his shoulders, "The etymology of the term "Gung Ho," comes for the Chinese meaning "work together," but I find it can also mean: Excitable morons groping for a cause."

One of Ray's men steps toward Mitch, "You kidding me, man?"

Abe shakes his head and crosses his arms, "My friend, I wouldn't if I was you."

The man leans in closer to Ray, "Who are these guys again, Ray?"

"These are some old chums of mine, who are presently of the mind set that animals are uniting against us. Which we deserve by the way."

"Good for them." The woman at the table in Ray's group nods. "I mean, we have been eating 'em and keeping 'em in cages since the dawn of time."

I scoff, "I'm guessing you didn't do well in history did you."

The woman straightens up and looks toward me, offended. "What did you say, shrimpy?"

I shake my head and chuckle, "The first zoo opened to the public in 1847. I don't know what the rest of you, but that sounds closer to recent times then the dawn of time to me."

The woman tries to step around Jackson and Ray to get to me. When she does I try to move around them as well, but Jackson and Ray stop us. "Hey, hey, hey. Everyone relax."

"You better get your girl under control, buddy." The woman points toward me as Ray holds her back.

Jackson pulls me away, as Ray does the same with the woman. "Okay, okay. Everyone calm down."

Mitch takes a deep and loud inhale trying to change the subject and get everyone back on track. "All right, how about we just focus on what it is we're trying to do here. Okay?"

Ray nods towards Mitch, "Look, once we're in, one of your people can go fetch the, uh, velociraptor thing from the path-lab."

"Electroporator." Mitch looks to Ray annoyed.

"Yeah, that. Rest of us are gonna free the animals, load 'em into the truck. We're in and out in under 30 minutes."

Jamie shakes her head, "why if we try a different approach?"

Jackson nods, "Yeah, like one where we don't break into the zoo to free the animals."

The woman who had fought with me turns to Mitch, who is laughing softly, "What, you think this is funny?"

Mitch nods, "Oh, there's nothing funnier than adrenaline junkies trying to mask their thrill-seeking in altruism."

"Zoos are an idea whose time has come and gone."

"Tell that to the dozens of endangered species who have benefited from captive breeding programs."

Ray puts his hands up. "All right, relax. Relax. Anissa did a couple of tours in Afghanistan, took some mortar fire. Unfortunately, doctors couldn't save her sense of humor, as you guys can see."

I shake my head and place a hand on Jackson's shoulder since he is prepared to break up another fight. "Jackson, you were saying?"

"I was thinking that maybe we try more of a stealthy approach. One where we get in and out without security even knowing we're there."

Ray nods, lifting a hand from the table. "And how do you propose that?"

"We have a secret weapon."

"Oh, you do?"

"We do." Jackson points over to Mitch, "Him."

Anissa shakes her head, "You gotta be kidding me."

"Well, as it turns out, Miss Jarhead, I know a thing or two about zoos." Mitch nods as he gestures over to Jamie, "And Jamie's knows a thing or two about getting information from people."

I nod, "Yeah, Jamie do you think you could get the rent-a-cops to allow us into the system?"

"Yeah, I can try," Jamie nods, "just give me a little while to try."

The group nods and breaks up. Once everyone does Jackson turns to me. "Hey, I want you to stay here."

I sigh softly, "Why?"

"It's safer here, plus Jamie will need help looking over the cameras… and having you and Anissa separate is for the best right now." Jackson places his hands on my shoulders, before running them down my arms. "Especially, if we are going to be breaking the law. Something tells me even though we talked them out of the flash-bangs, they'll still bring something."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

After a little while, I walk over to Jamie working on getting access to the security system. "Hank and I are old friends. His wife and I are in a book club together. She just… she loves her John Grisham. Should I call him?... Thank you, thank you. I really appreciate this. I will make sure that I tell Hank how helpful you've been."

"Did you get it?"

Jamie looks up at me with a smile. "I did. See how many phones or iPods you can get."

I nod and head off, finding a handful of phones and iPods. "I could only find three…"

"That's fine, I found three too."

The two of us sure a little laugh and sitting them out of a map of the table we had our meeting around. As Jamie gets the cameras lined into different cameras we go about placing them on the map in the area the camera is located.

Jamie shakes her head as she and I place the cameras around the map, "I don't know about this."

I look up to her from the other side of the table. "About what?"

"This, the cameras, everything." she gestures towards the table.

I scoff softly, "But this part was your idea."

"I know, but... it should work, it should work… but what if it doesn't."

Mitch walks ups to the table and leans his palms against the table next to Jamie. "Well, if it doesn't, we're gonna be breaking into a zoo with a bunch of nut-job radicals, and nobody's gonna have our backs. But I'm not worried about that, you know why?"

"Why?"

"'Cause I have faith in you."

With that little comment I see Jamie almost melt, but before I can leave the two of them to have a little moment the group gathers around in the table and we begin talking through the plan. Ray not normally being one to really listen, is having a problem wrapping his head around the ideas "So how's this supposed to work?"

"Well, Kat and I have access to all the security camera feeds at the zoo. We have logged into the camera that looks at the zebra enclosure, the reptile house, and a few others around the zoo." Jamie points to the phone that is logged into the camera as she speaks.

"So we are gonna be your eyes and ears when you're inside the zoo. We'll know where you are, and give you a heads up if there are any security guards coming your way."

Ray shakes his head. "Seems complicated."

"Yeah, it is."

Jackson shakes his head. "No, it isn't. You two got this." The group leaves to load up and head out to the zoo. But Jackson turns to me. "You two got this right?"

I nod. "Of course, we do."

Jackson smiles and gives me a quick kiss before the group heads out. The group had been provided with headsets and Jamie and I had a walkie to hear everyone. It doesn't take them long to get to Clearwater Zoo, once they are there the team gets to work and Jamie and I can see them enter the zoo through the south maintenance entrance.

Abe comes over the walkie, "Hey, how's that?"

Jamie glances up at me. "Good job, all the cameras are still up."

I glance around the table to double check before checking if the security alarms have been deactivated, "okay, tell Mitch and Chloe that the alarms have been deactivated."

"Will do."

The channel goes quiet while Jamie and I watch the cameras. Jackson and Anissa are in the Zebra Enclosure when I notice a guard heading toward them. "Jackson, you've got a guard heading straight for you. Hide now."

Anissa quickly makes her way away from the enclosure, but since Jackson is inside he can't. Instead, he slowly moves around the zebra. Jamie calls out to him as the guard gets closer. "Jackson, the guard is 50 feet away. Jackson?"

I glance up to Jamie, "he's gotta move slow, so he doesn't spook the zebra."

The guard passes and Jackson goes undiscovered. Jamie and I sigh a sigh of relief. "Mitch, Chloe, how you doing?"

Mitch replies over the walkie. "Not terribly well." A few moments later Mitch calls back, "Nevermind."

Jamie and I scoff softly, shaking our heads. I look around the notice that Anissa and Jackson are close to the lion enclosure and there is a guard headed that way. "Jackson, I got another guard heading to the lion enclos…"

"Wait a second…" Jamie cuts me off.

"What do you mean? What's wrong?"

"Oh no. Jackson, we got two of the feeds crossed. You have to get out of there right now!"

I look up to Jamie. "We what?"

Jamie looks up to me, petrified. "Yeah, look. The camera around the lion enclosure looks just like the one by the aviary."

"Shit."

All Jamie and I hear next is an overlap of shouts and something that sounds like gunfire and the channel goes quiet. Thankfully, it doesn't take long for people to get to the warehouse we are hiding out in. When they get back I rush over to Jackson. "What happened?"

Anissa runs into the room, followed by Abe who is carrying Ray, "Ray got shot and Cody is dead because we didn't have the backup we could count on. That's what happened."

Mitch shouts to her as he enters. "Nobody said anything about guns!"

Jackson puts his hands up stepping in the middle of the group. "Everybody calm down. All right? We can point fingers later."

Mitch nods and hurries over to the table, as Anissa swepts everything to the floor. "Kat, come help me."

I nod and rush over to the area where the first aid kit should be, taking my jacket off, "Yeah."

Jamie walks over to us. "Why didn't you take him to the hospital?"

Anissa looks up to Jamie. "Because if he goes to the hospital, then he goes to prison. Besides, your friend says he can help him."

"You can?" Jamie shifts her glance to Mitch.

Mitch nods. "Between Kat and myself, I hope so. Otherwise, GI Jane here is gonna put me down."

I rush over to the table, "He'll be fine, just get us some more first aid supplies, anything else you have around here. Okay?"

Anissa nods and rushes off. "You got it!"

Mitch calls out, "And the sharpest knife you can find. And a lighter to sterilize it."

I take a deep breath, "And some rope or electrical cord, whatever you got."

The group rush around the get supplies as Mitch and I get to work. Jamie stops next to me, looking at Ray, "Oh, God, is he…"

I shake my head and look over to her, "he's passed out from the pain."

Mitch nods as he sterilizes the knife, "Probably better that way."

I nod, as Anissa and Jackson bring over some rope and cords, "Okay, tie him to the table."

"Why?" Anissa questions, while she starts doing as I ask.

"'Cause this is gonna get rough."

The two tie him down and Jackson steps up to Anissa, who is very worried about her friend, "Don't worry. Ray is in good hands. I've seen Kat pull of much worse with much less, and while his bedside manner notwithstanding, if Mitch says he can help him, he can."

The group leaves Mitch and I so we can concentrate. Mitch sighs and shakes his head, "the bullet's in a bad place. This isn't gonna be pretty. You ready?"

I nod and put most of my body weight on Ray. "Yeah."

As Mitch starts to get the bullet out Ray wakes up and gasps in pain. Looking over to in nothing but pain. I take a deep breath. "No, you're okay, you're okay. You're gonna be fine. You're gonna be okay. Ray, listen to me, calm down."

With that comment, Ray passes out again and I sigh, looking over to Mitch, who has pulled the bullet out, putting in into a small bowl we have.


	23. The Plane

When Mitch and I get done the other's have gone to get the rest of our plan moving. Abe and Anissa have gone to get the plane ready and moving. When I walk out to the truck where Ray's group had the animals Jackson steps out looking shocked.

"What's wrong?"

"You gotta see these."

I step into the truck with Jackson and he points over to a cage with a warthog and a serval, a wild African cat. I look over to Jackson surprised, "Shouldn't he be terrified of that cat?"

"Yeah, but instead it's like they're best friends."

As Jackson and I look around the animals in the truck start to go berserk. "Let's get out of here." the two of us almost jump out to the truck and meet up with Jamie, Chloe, and Mitch.

"What's going on in there?" Mitch asks as I almost run into him.

"Well, it looks like the animals have all found a common enemy. Us."

Jackson nods. "At first it was just the serval, then the rest of the animals joined in. but it was more like it was passing from one animal to the next."

"So what's going on?"

"I don't know, maybe it's some Emotional Contagion, but it's a biological phenomenon. Nobody quite understands it, but it's real. Like yawns are contagious. You see somebody yawning, you can't help but yawn yourself. Same thing with laughter."

"And you think that's what's happening with the animals?"

"I can't say for sure, but it's a theory. But if it's true, that would explain why the abnormal animal behaviors have been increasing so much these past few days. Because animals in proximity could be triggering each other. Like inside the truck."

I shake my head, "You're saying one of the animals starts displaying the behavior, then it spreads from one to the next, like a spark?"

Jackson takes a deep breath, "Something my father said, I didn't understand at the time, but he called it "the spark." He said that once the spark was lit, it would spread all over the world from animal to animal, like wildfire. And that once this happened it would be impossible to put out the flame."

Mitch shakes his head, "I just can't believe we let it get this far. One minute Jamie's wanted for killing an FBI agent. The next minute, we're in a gunfight. At a zoo."

Jackson sighs, "You think I wanted it this way?"

"It was your idea to contact this Ray character. Doesn't take a fortune teller to figure out that bad things might occur when he's around."

"Yeah, well, I didn't hear you come up with any ideas about how to get out of this country undetected."

"Right, but my no ideas beats the hell out of robbing a zoo to get out of here."

"We had no other options, Mitch."

I step between them, "Hey! We all made decisions that put us in his situation. We can't do anything about it now, but we do need to figure out how we are getting to Africa."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "Is Ray still out?"

I nod, "yeah."

Mitch steps forward, "I say we leave him."

"We're not leaving the guy, okay? He's hurt."

Mitch shakes his head, before looking at Jackson, "I'm a veterinarian. I didn't take the Hippocratic Oath and Kat is a nurse so she didn't either."

"Are we really gonna leave him here?"

"Could put a bow on him. Leave him in front of the police station."

I shake my head, "No, we'll call an ambulance once we get to the plane. Then we'll call the zoo, tell 'em where they can find their animals. And to use extreme caution when approaching them."

The group nods in agreement and we start to head to the truck, but we hear the door to the warehouse open. When we turn we see Ray, holding his side and a gun, Jackson steps over in front of me, "Seriously, Ray?"

Jamie rolls her eyes, "What is it with you guys and guns?"

"Well, my charm only gets me so far. Where's Anissa?"

Jackson sighs, "She's with Abe. They went to the plane."

"Good, Let's go get 'em then. It is my plane, after all. Come on."

Mitch protests, "No, no, no, no. No."

"The plan abides. We're taking the animals."

"We can't."

"Sure we can."

"No, it's impossible. Something is wrong with them."

"And we can make it right by setting them free. So get in the truck, and let's go to Africa. Now! So who's volunteering to ride in the back? Or do you want to draw straws? All six of us can't fit in the front."

"Look you're not getting it. The animals, they're not right. It's not safe back there."

Jackson shakes his head and puts his hand up to Mitch, "I'll ride in the back."

Jamie protests, "Jackson, no you can't."

I grip his arm, "I'll come with you."

Ray chuckles, "Well, look at that. How sweet is that, huh? All this "saving the world" stuff is really working out great for you, Jackie Boy! Mitch, you drive. Appreciate you saving my life, sport."

Mitch scoffs, "You say that now. But, I might have left a nickel in your chest. Shouldn't hurt. But getting through airport security might be an adventure."

When Jackson and I get into the back of the truck I curl my knees up to my chest, after Jackson and I find a place to sit away from the animals. Jackson wraps his arm around me. "You okay?"

"Yeah..."

"None of this is your fault." As he says this the truck lurches forward."

I scoff, "That's not exactly true. I know what kind of trouble you and Ray get into when you're together and what comes along with Ray and I went with your idea to seek him out."

"Hey, we couldn't have made it this far without you."

"In the back of a speeding truck with homicidal animals, headed, by gunpoint, on our way to a rendezvous with a stolen plane?"

"It's okay, we'll be okay. We have to."

As the truck speeds down the highway, the back door comes open and I let out a scream. The truck comes to a stop before Jackson and I jump out of the back. I hear Mitch shouting, "We're near the airfield, come on."

With that, we all take off running, even Ray, even though he is a little ways behind the group. We make our way, quickly, to a large plan where Anissa is waving us on. "Come on!" When we get into the back of the cargo plane she looks at us oddly, "What happened to the animals?"

Ray shouts, "Doesn't matter right now, cops are on our trail." He rushes up to the cockpit and starts up the plane.

When we start to take off with the cabin door still open. As we roll down the runway cops start to shot at the plane. Anissa grabs a gun from the top storage, "I got this."

"No! No! NO!"

The group protests, but Chloe jumps onto Anissa, knocking the both of them out of the plane. "Chloe! Anissa!"

The group looks on in terror as the police get to Chloe and Anissa, arresting them. Jackson sits on the cargo bay floor covering his mouth as the door closes.


	24. Zambia

Abe and Ray flew us to Zambia, the team had been beside ourselves since Chloe had thrown herself from the plane to stop Anissa from shooting the police officers who were after us. When we get the boys and I are all too happy to be back in Africa. Jackson and I are walking down the dirt road almost dancing ahead of the group.

"You two are crazy!" Jamie calls out to us.

Jackson shakes his head as the two of us stop, "Nope, just nice to be back home, or at least close to it."

"I'm a little envious of Chloe right now. Nice air-conditioned cell." Jamie wipes some sweat off her brow.

"My guy out here in Zambia is the real deal." Ray notes as he glances up to the sky. "He'll have the intel on leopard sightings, and he'll outfit the lot of of. This is rough bush.. But if we're going after Leopards we'll need more than a tranq gun." Ray gestures to the tranq gun in Abe's hand.

"Thanks Ray."

"You got it."

We walk a little further down the road and come to an outpost. Jackson and Abe go in, while the rest of us stay outside, "Oh my God!"

"Jackson? What is it?"

I walk up to the door and step inside, as I hear Jackson protest, "You might not want to."

When I walk in I see that the men working at the outpost had been attacked. "Oh, My God."

Mitch walks in behind me, "Well, that explains why they didn't answer our radio call."

Ray walks in behind Mitch and I, with Jamie, sighing loudly, "Damn it. This is my guy." He walks over to a man's body. "Man with the plan. Looks like he put up a good fight though."

I look around, "Who would of this?"

Jackson shakes his head, "Not who, what. Those are claw markers." Jackson points to a wound on one of the men. "Leopards."

I shake my head, "This was a slaughter. They weren't even feeding." 

"It's strange."

Mitch clears his throat, "Yeah, but strange is good. Strange tells us we're on the right track."

Abe turns on the radio in the outpost. "You guys."

We all stop and listen to the new story, "This is happening on every continent, every major city. This is not a coincidence."

"What would you have us do? Shoot all the zoo animals? What about farm animals? Pets? My point is, this is a virus, and it's spreading fast."

"There is no evidence of a virus."

Mitch sighs, "At least they're starting to pay attention."

Jackson shakes his head, "Which means it's getting worse."

"All the more reason for us to get moving."

I sigh, "There's a car outside, we might find some keys on those bodies over there."

Jamie looks at me a little concerned. "Are you serious?"

"Hey, it's better than walking."

She nods and shrugs her shoulders as Abe, Jackson, and Ray looks over the bodies. Ray sighs, "they used all our ammo in the fight. Now, all we got is this tranq gun."

Abe nods, "All right, let's do what we came here to do."

Mitch nods, "I'll find out what's happening."

"These leopards we're after, you think they started mutating before the other animals?" Ray questions.

I nod, "According to our research, yes."

"I buy that."

"Africa is the birthplace of civilization. Every great evolutionary leap started here."

As we drive down the road we are stopped by a few cars full of people and their things. Abe gets out of the car and speaks to them. The rest of us get out when they start to move on.

Mitch looks up to Abe. "So let me guess, Chui means leopards?" 

Abe nods, "He said that we should turn back. He said that last night, leopards came into their farm and dragged away 12 people."

I nod, "Where is their farm?"

"Hand me that map." I hand Abe the map and he lays it out on the hood, as the group gathers around, "All right, so this is where he said their farm is. This is where the leopards attacked a few days ago."

"And this is where the airport is."

"Totally random."

"Yeah, you'd think they'd move in a clear direction."

Ray shakes his head, "Yeah, unless random is part of their plan. When an army wants to take an area, they attack in a haphazard fashion. Causes fear. Rumors of their next attack frightens people enough for them to leave even before the army arrives."

I look over to Ray, "Why are you telling us this? Are leopards using military strategy? It's possible."

"They're working as a group. Means they're thinking as a group. Well, glad we don't have any real guns then."

"If the attacks are random, how are we gonna know where to look for them? I have a feeling the leopards are going to find us." I look around the group as they nod.

The group gets back into the truck and drive down the road further. When we get to a group of trees Jackson looks up, "What is that hanging in that tree?"

Abe pulls over and the group gets out of the car. We look up in the trees and see dozens of dead bodies. I place my hands over my mouth, "Leopards?"

Abe nods and kneels at the base of the tree. "Judging from these prints, I'd say a group of about eight or so."

Ray looks on in awe, "I've never seen animals do anything like this to humans."

Jackson sighs, "We have."

Abe stands "Hey, these prints can't be more than a few hours old. That means we're getting closer to the leopards. Their den may be around here."

"Closer? You wanna get closer? That suddenly sounds like a really bad idea." Ray looks at all of us like we're crazy, and to some extent we kind of are.

"We want to find the cure, right? Let's go find those leopards."

We drive for a little while longer before stopping and sitting up camp for the night. We found three tents in the back of the truck and started setting up as Jackson and Abe sprayed some deterrent around the camp.

"You know, that scent's gonna scare away the very leopards you're trying to catch," Ray calls out to Jackson and Abe.

"There's lots of dangerous animals out here, not just leopards. Better to be safe."

Jamie and I are trying to set up the tent we are gonna use, but Jamie isn't too good at it, "Didn't your father ever take you camping?"

"I grew up on a farm. Why would I go camping? What about you?"

"Grow up in the city, never had a reason either. Jackson has taken me a few times but he and Abe always set up everything, they never let me do anything."

"Never thought we'd be in a situation where you'd need to be a pro at it." Jackson jokes.

Jamie looks over to Mitch, "What about you Mitch? Even been camping?"

"No, Nobody ever took me camping. Would you want to be stuck in a tent with moody teenage Mitch?"

Jamie chuckles and nods, "Fair enough."

"Hey, no offense but I would've had this thing up about 20 minutes ago." Ray walks over to Jamie and I.

The two of us step away, "It's all yours."

"Excuse me." He steps by us and starts to put up the tent. "All right, there you go."

"Thank you."

Ray nods, "Maybe you can help me with something now. See, all this doesn't make sense to me. Assuming your plan works, assuming you actually catch a live leopard, you shake up a cocktail of their stem cells and a chunk of the Mother Cell you got tucked away in your handy little man bag there. Then what? Hmm? Poof? All the animals are cured?"

"That's a little reductive, but, yeah, that is the hope." Mitch nods as he starts the fire. "Once we administer the cure."

"See, that's my point. How do you suppose you're gonna administer the cure, huh? What, a garden hose? We are talking about every critter in the world, right?"

"Well, what we do here is we take things one step at a time. So first we need to find a cure, then, we'll worry about how to deliver it."

I sit up the fire and sigh, "I use to love the sounds of nature. But this is not how the bush should sound. Before, it was something beautiful. Now, it's something entirely different." Abe and Jackson walk over and sit with us, Jackson sits next to me and Abe next to Jackson, "Hey, Abe, what were those farm kids were singing today?"

"It's a very old song. I used to sing it with my brothers."

Mitch looks over to Abe, "I didn't know you had brothers."

"Not anymore."

"I used to sing Clem to sleep when she was a baby. Oh, my darling Oh, my darling Oh, my darling Clementine"

Abe chuckles, "If the ububa leaves don't keep the animals away, I'm sure your singing will."

Jamie stands and looks around, "I'm just gonna go pee. Can I have the tranq gun?"

"Okay, just be careful." Mitch hands it to her. "There's only a few rounds left."

I shake my head and stand, "Here, let me go with you. I'll hold the gun."

"Okay."

Jamie and I walk about 20-30 feet away from the boys and Jamie walks about 10-15 feet away from me. When we get back we crawl into our tests and try to sleep. Jamie and I are sharing a tent. Jackson and Abe are sharing one, and Mitch and Ray are sharing another. I wake up a few hours later and see that the fire is still lit, so I step out of my tent, seeing Jackson sitting near the fire.

"It's not your watch for another hour."

"Couldn't sleep." Jackson stares into the fire.

"I'm sure she's fine, Jackson. And when we return home with the cure, we'll set everything straight. We'll be heroes." I sit next to him.

"I never cared to be a hero. I just wanted a quiet, simple life. Which is what we had."

I nod, "Yeah, we did."

"So how in the hell did we let all this happen to us?"

'We were asked to help save the world, what were we supposed to say? No?"

"I know, I just want our quiet life back."

"We'll get it back. We'll find the cure for the animals and then we can go back home and we can start working on our pride."

Jackson smiles and nods as he looks over to me. "Yeah, we can."

As Jackson and I snuggle near the fire we hear something off in the forest. When we turn we see something dart by. Quietly and quickly we wake the group. Abe steps out of the tent. "What is it?"

"We just saw something zip by."

Ray stands and looks around, "Throw me that box of tranq darts, will you? If it is a leopard, I can handle it."

Abe protests as Ray steps away like he is leaving the group, "Ray, you stay here. We're safer together."

"I got this." Ray steps into the forest and disappears. It takes what feels like hours for him to return, "Nothing there. Looks like we live to die another day."

As he says this a leopard jumps out of the jungle and takes him down. Quickly dragging Ray off into the tree line, "RAY!"

"Oh, My God!"

"Oh, my God!"

The group looks around and notices that we are surrounded by leopards. "Look out!"

As we look around we all grab a large stick and lit the end on fire. Using them to fend off the leopards. Jackson steps away and looks over to Jamie's pack. "Jamie, those glow sticks you have."

"What?"

"Your glow sticks. Bring them here."

I turn and see a leopard behind Mitch, "Mitch, behind you."

Mitch turns and swings the stick at the leopard and it backs away. There is another on the other side of him, but Abe throws his stick at him, hitting the leopard on the side. Once he does, they all leave. Jackson looks around, "Come on, let's go."

"Go? Go where?"

"I tagged one of the leopards with a glow stick. We can track it. Where are the keys?"

I sigh, "Jackson, Ray had the tranq gun. We don't have any weapons. We need a plan."

"We have a plan, okay? This is it. We follow the leopards. That's our best chance. What else you wanna do? Stay here and wait for them to come back?"


	25. The Cub

We ended up tracking the leopards into the early hours in the truck, not in a traditional sense. Just with the glow stick flowed Jackson had dumped onto one of them.

"Hey, right up there. Up ahead, on the right. We're on the right track." Jackson directs Abe as best he can.

"Maybe somebody should say something about him. Ray. I mean nobody should die without words being spoken, right?" Mitch looks to Jamie and I, who are in the back of the truck with him.

I sigh softly, "Ray was obnoxious, loud, and stubborn, but he was passionate. And he cared more about animals on this Earth than any man I've ever met."

I hear Jackson sigh from the front seat, "Looks like the trail's run out. We lost him."

"Okay, team. What now?" Mitch looks up to Abe and Jackson.

"Let's make camp. We can pick up the trail when it gets light out."

I'm not sure that we really make camp up, we rest for about thirty minutes before the sun comes up. When it does we start out again.

"We lost the tranq gun." Jamie comments, worriedly.

"So we'll make our own. It's not quite ketamine, but it should do the trick. The locals have used the root for hundreds of years to get drunk, so hopefully, it's enough to knock out a leopard." Abe comments as Mitch mixes the compound of roots together.

The smell assaults our noses. Jamie covers her, "That's the most disgusting thing I ever smelled in my life."

I shake my head and place my hand over my mouth and nose, as Mitch takes a dropper and holds it over his mouth, "Are you serious?"

"It's for science." Mitch drops some in his mouth and immediately realizing it was a bad idea and the root tastes nasty. He shakes his head and licks his lips, "Hm...tingles."

"I hope it does more than that to the leopards." I lean back as much as I can in the small back area.

"Stop the Truck!" Jackson shouts, "Right up there. You see those trees with the rocks? The rocks along the base. Looks like their den."

Abe nods, "If we can isolate one leopard, we may have a chance."

I lean forward and poke my head between them, "What if you can't?"

Jackson and Abe almost flat out ignore me and jump out of the car, heading to the back to a spare Jamie and I had made out of a syringe and a stick. "Jackson?"

"Kat, we'll be fine. I promise." Jackson smiles his reassuring smile at me, before turning to Abe. "You ready?"

"After you."

The two of them head into the tall grass and the wood line around the den. I sit back down, next to Jamie and put my hands on either side of my head. Jamie places her hand on my back, "Hey, it's okay. They're gonna be fine."

"Yeah, but if they get a leopard, how are we going to transport it, and where are we gonna go?"

Mitch shakes his head, "We won't need to transport it, we'd just need a tooth from it and I can do the rest from in the back of the truck."

I nod and sigh again. We wait for what feels like hours before Abe and Jackson come back. When they do they came back with a cub. "Did you two kidnap a baby leopard."

"Maybe. Let's go make a cure."

Jamie and I wrap the cub in a thin blanket we have in the back of the cab. Taking turns holding it as we drive down the dirt road. When we get to a bridge to head back to the airfield the bridge is down and we get out of the truck. I head over to the post and look at the rope, it's been chewed through.

"What happened to the bridge?" Jamie calls out of the doorway of the truck, she had stayed in to hold the cub.

I sigh and scratch the back of my head, "The ropes been chewed through."

Abe shakes his head, "We're going to have to drive the long way around the river"

"If we drive the long way around the river, we have to drive through the Ndube Army's territory."

Jamie shakes her head as we walk to the back of the truck, "The Ndube Army? I'm guessing that's not a real army, right?"

Jackson nods, "Far from it. Think of an African Hells Angels. Except instead of motorcycles and leather jackets, they have rifles and machetes."

"There's no other way." Mitch questions, the three of us shake our heads, "Course there isn't." We all get back into the truck and start off, driving slowly so we don't make much noise. "Hey, we sure this is the best plan? We should just drive fast, get the hell through here, not worry about the engine noise."

"No. We should stay quiet."

As we drive we hear a phone go off. "What is that?" We look around the truck and I find a phone in Jackson's pack. "It's Chloe's phone."

"She must've put it in my pack."

I answer the phone, "Hello. This is Katherine, I'm a friend of Chloe's, who is this? She's been arrested. She's fine though. She's safe. She's in FBI custody. What do you mean? How do you know that? She didn't kill that agent. Yes, I will. You do the same."

Jamie looks to me, concerned, "What is it?"

"That fed, Brannigan, he was killed."

Jamie shakes her head, "Reiden."

"If that is the case, then what have they done with Chloe?" Mitch looks around the group. No one knows what to do.

We drive for a little while longer before being stopped by a group of men in trucks. The men come up and point a gun at Jackson. Ordering things at Jackson in another language. "What's he saying?"

"I have no idea. Okay, I'm coming out."

"Jackson!" Abe gets out of the car. "Don't hurt him, take me. Take me." The two of them are forced about 10 feet away from the truck.

"What do we do? We have no guns, no money, we have nothing." Jamie looks between Mitch and I.

"We have him." Mitch gestures to the cub.

I roll my eyes, "What are we gonna do, sic a kitten on them?"

"The needle on Abe's spear, hand it to me."

I reach over and hand to needle to Mitch, who pokes the kitten, causing it to let out a high pitched cry. We are focused on what is going on the cub, we don't see the men coming up behind us. They open the door and pull Jamie and I from the truck.

"NO! NO!" Mitch shouts, "Jamie! Kat!" As he tries to follow us out, he is hit in the stomach with the butt of a shotgun. They pull Mitch out and basically throw him over with Jackson and Abe.

Jamie and I look at each other terrified. "What do we do?"

I take a deep breath. "I don't know."

Jackson and I glance to each other terrified as the men look over Jamie and I. I know that if we don't get out of here the boys will be killed and worse would happen to Jamie and I. Just then a group of leopards attacks the large group of us.

"Jamie! Kat!" The boys shout to us as we run to the truck. Gunshots ring out as we run to the car. As soon as everyone is in the truck Abe speeds off.

Jamie and I look at Mitch, grateful. "That was great what you did back there."

Abe glances back, "What?"

"Mitch stuck the cub with a needle."

"His pain sent a distress call. It was just like the lions in L.A. They communicate over long distances."

"Oh, that was you!"

Mitch nods, "I just put their mutation to good use."

Jamie smiles, scratching the kittens head, "This little guy saved our lives."

"We did it, Rafiki. Man, you saved my life."

The group smiles around each other, all except for Jackson. My eyes stick to him, noticing something is wrong. The color was disappeared from his face. "Jackson?" When I lean forward and get my torso up between the two front seats I see Jackson is holding his stomach and there is blood pooling, soaking his shirt. "Oh, my God! Jackson's been shot!"


	26. The Hospital

When I lean forward and get my torso up between the two front seats I see Jackson is holding his stomach and there is blood pooling, soaking his shirt. "Oh, my God! Jackson's been shot!"

Mitch grips my arm and gently pulls me out of the way, " Let me see, let me see."

"I'm fine..." Jackson protests.

"All right, here." Mitch takes off his flannel that he had been using as a little cover, pushing it onto Jackson's stomach as Abe pulls over. When we get stopped, Jackson lays his set back and Abe and I slowly move him into the back of the truck. Jamie and Mitch trade places with Abe and Jackson. As soon as everyone is back in the truck, Mitch takes off. "Keep that over the wound. Press down."

I try my best to compose myself, which is kind of hard, given that the man I love is bleeding out in my arms. Abe keeps presser on Jackson's wound as I place my hand behind his head, trying to keep him conscious.

"We gotta get him to a hospital." Jamie looks back at us, shocked and scared.

"Hold on, Rafiki. Hold on."

"It looks like we are about 10 miles from the hospital." Jamie comments, looking over the map.

"How's he doing?" Mitch calls out from the front of the truck.

"Not so good," I say, not taking my eyes off of Jackson.

"The blood is coming through the shirt."

I look over to Abe, who is holding the bloody shirt on Jackson's stomach, "Just keep the pressure on it, nice and even. We can't let him pass out."

"Maybe we should pull over?" Jamie asks as I cup Jackson's face with my left hand, my right being under his head.

Mitch sighs, "There are lots of things I'm sure Katherine and I could handle in a pinch. Kind of surgery he needs, not one of them."

The cub is getting restless and beings playfully growling as it plays with the blanket. "The cub is impatient, Rafiki. You need to give him a name."

I laugh softly, "Maybe a musical name, considering how much noise he makes. Maybe Bono or Bowie?"

"What's going on? Where are they going?" I hear Abe ask. As I look up to him confused, he glances down at me. "Everybody's leaving town."

"Could be a million reasons."

It doesn't take us long to get into the town and to the hospital. Once there, Abe helps Jackson out of the back of the truck and basically carries him inside. I grab the electroporator out of the back and Jamie comes around to grab the cub. When we try to open the doors they're locked.

"Oh, my God. That's why they're all leaving." Jamie points off into the distance, to alligators and leopards.

"We need to get inside now." I hand the electroporator to Mitch, "here." I pound on the door, "Hey! - Open the door! It's an emergency!"

One of the doctors reluctantly opens the door. "The hospital is closed." The five of us don't listen we barge in and find Jackson a gurney. "Did you hear what I said? We are abandoning the hospital. You have to go elsewhere."

Abe shakes his head and turns to the doctor, "We don't have time. This man's been shot."

"I can't help. I suggest you drive him to Nyanga."

"That's four hours at least."

"I have lost a dozen colleagues and more patients than I can count. I am sorry, but I cannot help you."

Abe shouts, in a tone I have never heard from him. His voice ringing with anger. "You will help him! You understand me? You will help!"

The doctor raises the gun he has in his hand in Abe's direction.

"NO!" I shout as the doctor fires, hitting the wall behind Abe, scaring away a leopard.

"Fine." The doctor shakes his head and begins pushing Jackson down the wall. Abe and I follow him. "What's his blood type?"

"O-negative."

The doctor turns to the nurse who had joined us in our rush down the hall. "Three units of O-negative and find some morphine. The last ambulance leaves in an hour. I will do the surgery, but beyond that, you are on your own."

"Thank you."

I sigh and glances around, "What happened here?"

"It started at the edge of town. The lions came first, then the leopards. Two days ago. They attacked the young and the elderly first, then hospitals where they were taken for treatment. People are terrified. They're abandoning the city. I've never seen anything like this." The doctor explains as we hurry down the hall when we get to the surgery doors he stops. "I'm sorry. You two can't come with us."

I nod, stepping beside the bed, fighting back tears. Jackson who is barely conscious takes my hand. "Hey, I'll be alright. It takes more than a bullet to stop me."

I chuckle softly and nod, leaning my forehead against his. When I step away, a few moments later, the doctor pushes him away. Abe pulls me in for a hug. "He'll be okay. Right now, we need to find Mitch and Jamie, and help them make a cure."

I pull away from him and nod, "right… Mitch said they needed to go to Hematology."

Abe nods and we run down the hall toward Hematology, when we find Mitch and Jamie they are in one of the areas a few away from Hematology. Jamie looks to be shocked, when I look down I realize Abe and I are covered in Jackson's blood. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"We have to trust the doctor right now."

Abe looks to the ground, handing me the gun the doctor had given Abe when he took Jackson off. "A single set of paw prints."

I look over to one of the bodies the leopard had gotten to, trying to keep my mind focused, "he teeth went straight through the bone. That means leopards."

We hear a leopard growl from down the hall. Jamie speaks quietly, and in a shaky voice, "Which way is Hematology?"

I look up to the sign above us. "that way."

Abe takes the gun back from me and steps in front of us, "Come on, stay behind me."

We make our way to one of the hematology labs, without seeing a leopard. When we are there Jamie lays the bag she is carrying the cub in, on a lab table. Mitch starts to look over the lab. "Okay, pal, I'm gonna need one of your teeth, so I can extract some stem cells. Hand me that rubber heart over there."

Jamie steps over and gets the rubber heart model for Mitch, "Why?"

"Because. No need to hurt him if we don't have to. So I'll just take this, rub a little flavor on it. Here you go."

I nod, "You're going to let the cub remove its own tooth."

"Exactly. So, uh, assuming I can formulate a cure, we're gonna need an animal we can test it on. Even if the cure works, wild animals still act wild. We're going to need a domesticated one. That way we have a clear behavioral baseline."

Abe nods and heads toward the door. "Guys, don't open this door until I return."

I step toward him and put my hand on your arm, "What? No, you Abe."

"I'm going to be okay."

I shake my head, "I'm going with you. You can't go by yourself."

Abe shakes his head and sighs. "Fine. But stay close."

"Be careful," Jamie calls to us as we leave.

"You too." As Abe and I head out we run into the doctor. "How is he?"

"He'll sleep for another hour or two. Check on him then. He's on the second floor, in post-op. As soon as he wakes, start the antibiotic. The other is for pain. We are gathering the last of the patients. Stay away from the animals. There will be no one left to help you." The doctor runs off finishing his statement.

"Thank you, doctor."

Abe and I rush out of the hospital and back into the truck. As we drive Abe begins to speak, "Go, forgive me. I have not been a religious man. But if you get us out of this, I promise that will change, just give us a sigh."

As Abe says this we hear a dog barking. "Looks like you're gonna have to make some life changes.

Abe shrugs his shoulders as we jump out of the truck and cautiously head into a backyard and see a dog chained up, bark and snarling.

"Hey. easy. easy, it's okay." Abe approaches the dog.

As he gets close to the dog a man comes up from behind us, shotgun in hand. "I'm so sorry. Bacco's very sick. It is enough no more."

"No, no, no." I protest.

"Stay back." The man states, pointing the gun at the dog.

Abe steps toward the man, "My brother, please, please. Let us take Bacco. I think there is a way we can sace him."

"I've tried. All of my neighbors have shot their animals. I'm the last."

"Then let us help him." I step toward the man as well, making sure to stay out of reach of the dog.

"It's a terrible world where a man has to shoot his own dog."

"Let us help him," Abe comment again, "If we can't I will do it myself."

The man nods and backs away. I run back to the truck and get the dog catcher thing, Abe had made from an IV stand. When I get back Abe tries to catch the dog.

"Come on, Bacco. You're coming with us."


	27. Jackson's Dream

Jackson's POV:

After saying goodbye to Kat and Abe the next thing I remember seeing is a bright white light. I thought I was done for, but the next thing I know I am in a curtained off room. As I look around I see Kat come through the curtains. curtained-off

"Hi, I came as soon as the doctor told us you were awake. I was worried." She smiles softly down at me and sits in the chair next to my bed.

"Yeah, well, I'm stubborn, right? Like I said, it takes more than a bullet to stop me."

"A bullet, an army of animals, evil men trying to kill us."

"Yeah, we've been through a lot."

"Yeah we have." Kat falls silent as she strokes my hand.

"When they were wheeling me into the room, I was thinking about you."

She smiles and looks up to me, "Jackson Oz, you are nothing if not a charmer."

"Yeah, what can I say I try." The two of us fall silent again, as Kat looks over at my wrapped stomach, "listen Kat, being nearly killed by half a dozen times really makes a man think." I clear my throat. "As soon as this in over, I want us to have a wedding, as big and as grand as you want, or as small and quiet as you want. But I don't want us to go to the courthouse like we were going to back home. I want to see how happy and beautiful you look in whatever dress you pick and… and I wanna cry when I see you walk down the alley, and I want Abe standing next to me… and…"

Kat chuckles, "What if I want Abe to walk me down the alley?"

"Really not Mitch?" The two of us chuckles softly, it hurts to laugh right now, but I don't want to worry her more by not acting like myself.

At that moment I start to see double and Kat screams. I close my eyes tightly, trying to get them to focus again, but when I open them again she's gone. As I lean forward, sitting up slowly, I pull back the curtains, assuming I fell asleep and dreamt Kat screaming. When I pull back the curtains I see a leopard that had jumped on a nurse and two scared children, who are to the very top of their beds. It takes every ounce of strength I have but I get up and move one of the children onto the other one's bed. Pushing the bed into the large office in the room and closing the door behind us.

When we get into the room the little boy jumps out of the bed and puts his hand on the door, speaking in a foreign language. "It's okay, it's okay." I look over to the girl, who is still on the bed, "Tell him I don't understand."

The little boy hits on the door with his flat hand, and says a word I recognize, brother. I grip my side and take a deep breath, hoping I didn't hear him right, "Your brother's out there? Your brother's in there?"

"Mm-hm." The boy nods his head and looks back to me.

I nod and take a deep breath, "okay." As I step toward the door the boy moves out of the way and I open the door slightly, looking over the leopard, that is still preoccupied with the nurses body. I look around the room and see a little boy who is asleep in the bed near the door. I step out quickly and quietly, keeping an eye on the leopard as I step over to the bed, before picking up the boy. As I pick him up the boy wakes and looks at me confused. Thankfully, I get him into the room before he sees the leopard and the nurse.


	28. The Crash

_**Katherine's POV:**_

Abe and I get back to the hospital with Bacco, tying him up in a room, before heading back to the room we left Jamie and Mitch in. When we get in Mitch and Jamie are out of the room, holding it closest, their clothes soaked.

"What happened?"

Mitch takes a deep breath, "A leopard came for the cub and got into the room. I know it sounds crazy, but maybe that's what those birds were doing."

"Did we lost the mother cell?" I look from Mitch to Jamie, who nods. As she does I roll my eyes and put my hands on my head. "And the cure?"

Mitch holds up a test tube, "This is it. It's all we got. One shot, maybe two."

Abe takes a deep breath, "Okay. We found a dog and put him in one of the patient rooms."

"What if this doesn't work?" Jamie looks from Abe to Mitch

"There's only one way to find out." Mitch sighs.

I shake my head as we head to the patient room Abe and I put the dog in, "First, the birds. Now the leopards. It's no coincidence." We walk into the room and the dog begins barking and snarling.

"They're after the cub." Mitch says as he fills a syringe with the cure, handing the tube to Jamie, "All right, this is it. No room for mistakes. Ready? One two three" He sticks the dog in its flank with the needle and injects the cure.

"How long does it take to work?"

"I don't know."

We watch as the dog continues to bark and snarl at us. Jamie's phone goes off and the other three of us turn to her. As she answers the phone we step into the hall, we can still hear the dog barking in the room, "Hello? Who is this? Chloe, oh, my God. Are you okay? We're fine. We found a cub. We're at a hospital in Harare. We're actually testing the cure right now. Wait, where are you? Listen, Chloe, something happened. Jackson got hurt. He's going to be fine, but…" Jamie ends with that and Jamie looks down at the phone, "the call dropped."

We still hear the dog barking and snarling, as Mitch shakes his head and runs his fingers through his hair, "If it was gonna work, we'd have seen some evidence by now. Sorry, guys. This is all my fault."

I shake my head, "It's no one's fault."

"Yeah. I'm the one who told you all that the leopard cub was the answer. I'm the one who said the Mother Cell was the key to the cure."

"It was a theory."

"Not even a theory. Half a theory."

Abe steps up beside me, "Now's not the time for self-pity. It didn't work. Tell me why."

Mitch sighs and sits on the bench in the hall, looking up at Abe, "Okay. Should I start with the fact that I'm not a geneticist? Or should I start with the fact that somehow I got it into my brain that a completely discredited scientist by the name of Robert Oz was anything other than certifiably insane?"

"Tell me why you failed today."

Jamie looks over to Abe shocked, "Easy, Abe. He tried."

"Stop. Let him speak. Tell me why you failed."

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me, genius? Maybe the Mother Cell was contaminated. But it's hard, organic substance. So that's highly unlikely. Maybe the cub's gene didn't mutate naturally like we thought it did, but there is no way that it traveled far enough to be exposed to Reiden, so that's a big fat no. If my hypothesis is sound, and none of the elements were contaminated, then I don't know, maybe it's the - Maybe it was the delivery system."

I look at Mitch confused, "The delivery system?"

"Yeah, the injection. The needle. Maybe the needle was contaminated. Or... Or what? Intramuscular injections usually disseminate quickly, but it's possible that It's possible it never even made it out of the dog's flank. And if it didn't make it out of its flank, that means it didn't get to the brain.

And maybe that's it. Maybe we need to introduce it orally."

We hear a leopard roar from down the hall, "Maybe we need to do that before the cub's pack finds us." I look back to Mitch, "Do we have enough left?"

"We're gonna find out. And, uh don't think I don't recognize what you just did there." Mitch looks up to Abe before we head back into the room. The dog is still barking and snarling, "Sorry, buddy. We need you one more time."

Abe and I get on opposite sides of the dog, holding him as still as we can, as Mitch prepares the syringe again, taking out the needle once he loads it. "You got him?"

Abe and I nod, "Yeah."

Mitch sprays the dog in the face and when he does Abe and I step back with Mitch and Jamie, looking at the dog, waiting for it to change. Jamie sighs and shakes her head, "Mitch, I don't know. I don't think it's working."

Mitch sighs and rubs his face. A few moments later the dog's tone changes. It goes from barking a bark of anger and threat to a friendly bark, even wagging his tail. Mitch slowly steps forward and pets the dog. "Good boy. Good boy."

I step forward and pet the dog as well, "We better find Jackson. We gotta get this stuff home."

Abe and I untie the dog and I take the dog with Mitch and Jamie, while Abe goes off to find Jackson. I wanted to go with him, but he wouldn't let me go with him. As Jamie, Mitch, and I rush through the lobby of the hospital to get to the truck, we are stopped upon seeing leopards in the doorway.

"Oh, my god."

Mitch holds a hand out to me, since I am a little way behind him and Jamie, "Don't move."

Jamie looks up to Mitch, "Do we run?"

"No. If we do, they'll take us down."

Just then we hear men shout from behind us, "Tranq them!" Then we hear the sound of tranq gunfire and we duck down, "Secure."

"Unit two secure! Extract! Lock it down."

"Secure this perimeter."

To my surprise, the men don't tranq the dog. Probably because he is just happy to see people. We are lead outside and wait among the army trucks. Before long the sun goes down and I look over to see a man coming out with the bag that Jamie had the cub in and it looks like he is carrying something as well. Behind him, Abe and Jackson come out. When they do I hand the leash to Mitch and run to Jackson.

"Jackson!" I run into him almost a little too hard. The two of us embrace and he kisses my head, "god, baby, you look like hell."

"Thanks." Jackson smiles at me before looking to one of the soldiers, "Hey, listen, up there with me, there were three kids."

The soldier nods, "Already on their way to Nyanga. We'll track down their parents."

I take a deep breath, "How'd you know we were here?"

"All I'm authorized to say is your location was provided by a French national. We're gonna get you to Johannesburg and from there on a flight to D.C."

Mitch and Jamie had walked over to us at this point and Abe takes the leash from Mitch, "I made a promise. Can you spare two men to take him back home?" Abe hands the leash to the soldier.

"You serious?" Abe nods to him, "yeah, okay." The soldier takes the leash. "Let's move."

Not an hour later we are on a plane on the way to D.C. I was snuggled up with Jackson in our seats next to Abe. "You know, Abe made a lot of promises to God in Zimbabwe."

Jackson chuckles, "You gonna keep them?"

Abe takes a deep breath, "I think all but one."

"Did it involve women?"

"No, it involved hamburger. And it was made in haste on your behalf. I think you'll be making your own promises from now on."

"As soon as we land, hamburger, three cold beers, not negotiable."

Jamie leans over the alley to us, "Please tell me that after everything we've been through, you guys aren't seriously gonna eat a hamburger."

Abe leans forward and smiles, "Oh, I'm eating the hamburger."

I smile and take a deep breath, looking over to Jamie, "How's the cub?"

"He ate half my dinner and fell asleep. Would you mind watching him for a sec?"

"Not at all."

With that Jamie gets up and heads to the back of the plane. I take a deep breath and snuggle back up with Jackson. Taking a few deep breaths, I know it sounds weird, but the smell of his cologne in relaxing and comforting. I am ready to go to sleep and then get back to D.C. so we can cure the animals.

Sadly, before we can the plane is taken down by a group of bats. When the plane lands in the water, we rush to get out. The last thing I remember is claiming onto a floating piece of wreckage and reaching out to Jackson, who was swimming over to me, then black.

When I come to I am in a hospital room. As I look around me I see a doctor in the room, but once I wake up the doctor leaves. Before long I hear the door open and see Chloe walk in.

"Chloe!"

"Kat!"

Chloe walks over to me and gives me what hug she can. I look down at my body and see that my lower leg is in a cast, I later learned that it had been broken.

"What happened?" I look up to Chloe.

"The plane you were on crashed."

"Is everyone okay?" Chloe takes a deep breath, "Chloe, is everyone okay?"

Chloe shakes her head, "They haven't been able to find Jamie or the leopard."


	29. Sequel

hey guys,

the story is continuing, however, each season will be a different book.

here is the line to the next book,

story/story_ ?storyid=13162442&chapter=1


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